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How Many Legs Had Gregor Samsa?

gregor legs samsa
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How Many Legs Had Gregor Samsa?

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What with one thing and another, Nabokov concludes he, “obviously belongs to the branch of ‘joint leggers’ (Arthropoda), to which insects, and spiders, and centipedes, and crustaceans belong” (p. 258). [There are accompanying sketches, by Nabokov.] That he is a cockroach (as some critics have foolishly supposed!) is decisively refuted on the grounds that roaches are flat, whereas Gregor is convex, belly and back. Ergo, a beetle. Ergo, those things are wing casings, although (Nabokov reasons) probably not only Gregor but Kafka himself failed to realize it. Ergo, Gregor could (secretly!) fly. That is, there was a possible, surprise move off the board (bumbling sort of beetlish knight’s wheel). But the main character missed it, as sometimes happens. There is a moral to the story. Nabokov instructs his audience to ‘treasure all their lives’ the knowledge that, “Some Gregors, some Joes and Janes, do not know that they have wings.” This is, of course, a flagrant violation of Nabokov’s own st

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