I’ve been thinking about Kafka’s story about turning into an insect this week, and why he would write a story about a young man who shamed his family by turning into a useless cockroach. A Czech bookstore had a book-length letter that Kafka wrote to his father, which was never sent. Is it fact or fiction? I don’t know. It describes a young man whose father frequently threated to beat him. Sometimes he would stop with the strap in mid-air, and other times he would strike. The boy was supposed to feel gratitude when spared, but instead he felt ashamed.
Kafka, Franz. Letter to Father. Vitalis, 2022, p. 42.