ALEX BELLY BJELOGRLlC
Kafka's Poor Chirihau
Literature is filled with accounts of men being transformed into ravens,
monsters, frogs, or pigs. This magical skill-lycanthropy-can be applied
equally to the outer world or directed at undesirable neighbors. In the
Odyssey,
Circe malevolently banishes uninvited guests to a sty. Also,
Merlin, the best known magician of medieval legends, entertained himself
by transforming his protege, the future King Arthur, alternately into a fish ,
a squirrel, and a sparrow. Transformation into an animal form typically
means the loss of speech, but human conscience and reason are usually
preserved.
Cases of voluntary magical self-transformations are no less frequent . In
recent times Carlos Castaneda attracted attention to the Central American
Indian "brujos" or wicked conjurers, who, when necessary, can choose an
alternate model of reality and transform themselves into ravens, lynx, or
desert dogs. Here, as in Circe's case, knowledge of the magical properties
of herbs and chemical stimulants plays an important role.
Another kind of transformation may be accomplished posthumously–
reincarnation, with all of the complexity attending this oriental religious
teaching. The hierarchy of earthly incarnations on the way to perfection
can be interpreted in a highly personal manner. For Strindberg, flowers rep–
resented perfect beings which exist in a permanent state of nirvana; they
multiply without fighting and die without tears. "These are beings," he
wrote, "that have achieved Buddha's dream to want nothing, bear every–
thing and retire in themselves."
The idea of horticul tural-directed transformation might not seem to
be as exotic when compared to a misfortunate salesman who, through no
fault of his own and without implementing
samsara,
wakes up one morn–
ing to find himself transformed into a huge beetle. Gregor Samsa loses his
ability to speak and must express himself by hissing instead. His appearance
disgusts his relatives and colleagues, but not those who confront
him
for
the first time, like the lodgers who appear later in the story. Because of his
transformation, human food becomes loathsome to Samsa, so, even though
his appetite grows increasingly weak, he begins to feed on rotten vegeta–
bles and bones brought to
him
by his inventive sister. At the same time, he
listens with increasing interest as his sister plays the violin, feeling that "a
way to a yearned-for, strange food has appeared." Therefore, in order to
appease his spiritual hunger, he had to be transformed into a beetle. Before
