Franz Kafka – Page 4

Review of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

SFFaudio Review

The Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Read by Alex Wilson
3 Zipped MP3, OGG or AAC files – 2 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Spoken Alexandria Project
Published: 2006
Themes: / Fantasy / Surreal / 1910s / Insects /

At first read, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a bizarre, almost nonsensical story. Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant bug of some sort. No explanation is given for how or why this metamorphosis occurred. Gregor himself seems more concerned with being late to a work assignment than the circumstances of his change.

As the novella progresses, The Metamorphosis becomes more about the unspoken negotiations inside a family as in who does what chores, who makes money for others, and who just gets in the way. When Gregor can no longer provide for the family’s needs, Gregor’s father changes from an invalid to a dedicated worker. Along the way, Greta converts from a loving sister to a young woman looking for suitors. The bizarre transformation of Gregor is not the most important transformation in the family, as evidenced by the final lines.

Alex Wilson, the founder of Spoken Alexandria, provides a understated, but compelling reading. The sound quality is top-notch, even when listening over headphones. The tone of voice is like someone waked in the middle of dream, lending an appropriate otherworldliness to the story of alienation.

Posted by Listener of the Free Listens blog

BBC7 and The 7th Dimension have Matheson’s Duel again!

Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 always has a slew of good Speculative Fiction in its daily 7th Dimension slot and another nicety is that they often rebroadcast an old show. That’s the case this week with a reading that was specially commissioned last year by BBC7 to celebrate the 80th birthday the legendary Richard Matheson. Here is yet another chance to experience one of his most enigmatic and ominous tales: Duel. Also coming are an abridged reading of Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (get an unabridged reading HERE) and a interestingly described BBC Radio 4 drama that was first broadcast in 1998, Paradise Lost In Cyberspace…

Duel
By Richard Matheson; Read by Nathan Osgood
Radio Broadcast – Approx 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Saturday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
“Driving to San Francisco, a businessman finds himself the victim of a deadly game being played by the driver of a huge, mysterious truck. Later to become Steven Spielberg’s classic 1971 film.”

Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Read by Benedict Cumberbatch
Radio Broadcast -Approx. 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
“Franz Kafka’s acclaimed novel sees Gregor Samsa awake one morning to find he has turned into a grotesque insect. His family initially react with horror, which slowly gives way to revulsion, then hideous indifference, as Gregor is left to fester in his room and begins to adapt to his new state which his family find so hard to accept. First published in 1912.”

Paradise Lost In Cyberspace
By Colin Swash; Perfomed by a full cast
Radio Broadcasts -Approx. 30 Minute Segments [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Weekdays starting from Tuesday at 6pm and midnight
“Set in a future world of genetics and cloning where living beyond the age of seventy is prohibited. George Smith is enjoying his 69th birthday when a Central Admin error convinces everyone he’s a year older than he actually is, and his time to die arrives a year too early.”

NOTE: Those outside the UK can get all of the above using the BBC7 Listen Again service for up to 6 days following the broadcasts.

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4 has Poe and Kafka

Online Audio

Roy, our UK correspondent, points out that BBC Radio 4 has two classic genre tales, the latter of which is read by Fawlty Towers‘ own Andrew Sachs – you remember him que?

The Pit And The Pendulum
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by David Horovitch
1 reading – 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Monday 15th January (15 mins).
Look for it on ‘Listen Again’ under Afternoon Reading.
David Horovitch reads Edgar Allen Poe’s spine-chilling tale of torture
Use the Afternoon Reading “listen again” service to hear the story.

Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Read by Andrew Sachs
Five 15 Minute readings – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Monday 15 – Friday 19 January 2007
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. The horrified reactions of his employer and his family have made this haunting parable on the human reaction to suffering into one of Kafka’s most famous and best loved works.
Use the Book At Bedtime “listen again” service to catch the entire reading.

posted by Jesse Willis

TellTaleWeekly.org has Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Alexander Wilson‘s podcast, The Spoken Alexandria Project, as well as his Tell Tale Weekly webstore, that helps fund it, both have a free unabridged reading of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis!

Grab the three MP3 files |Part 1|Part 2|Part 3| or subscribe to the podcast via this feed and get the entire novella in one MP3 file:

http://www.spokenalex.org/index.xml

The Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Translation by David Wyllie; Read by Alex Wilson
3 MP3 Files – Approx. 2 hours 15 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Spoken Alexandria Project
Podcast: November 16, 2006
From 1915! This is one of the most famous novellas ever written. From 1915!

“One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.” So begins the classic existential tale about the traveling salesman who too late realizes what he’s become.

posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox bills itself as "acoustical liberation …

Online Audio

LibriVox bills itself as “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”, we bill it as “really cool”! The LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain using the equipment they have at home, and then release the files as FREE audiobooks. The objective is to eventually make all books in the public domain available in the audio format. Several Science Fiction and Fantasy titles are already under way, and few have already been completed. Here’s a peek:

Completed Novels:
The Road To Oz by L. Frank Baum
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Completed Shorts:
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Multiple Narrator Forthcoming:
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Journey To The Interior Of The Earth by Jules Verne

Single Narrators Forthcoming:
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
Sky Island by L. Frank Baum
The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Beowolf
Anthem by Ayn Rand
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

posted by Jesse