Gregor Samsa from Franz Kafka’s “Die Verwandlung” (1917) in Bruno Latour’s “Ou suis-je? Leçons du confinement à l'usage des terrestres" (2021)

Gregor Samsa from Franz Kafka's "Die Verwandlung" (1917) runs through Bruno Latour's "Où suis-je? Leçons du confinement à l'usage des terrestres" (2021) as a figure for the pandemic experience of "confinement" (lockdown), from Latour's first introduction of Gregor with a comparison to his own experience ("C'est comme si j'avais subi, moi aussi, une vrai métamorphose") to the book's final lines about people like Gregor today: "Ils s'émancipent enfin. Ils se déconfinent. Ils se métamorphosent." For me, the most beautiful moment in Latour's treatment of the figure of Gregor comes early on when he echoes the conclusion to Albert Camus's "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" (1942): "Il faut imaginer Gregor Samsa heureux ..." (Andrew Shields, #111words, 16 March 2023)