关键词: 变形, 超现实主义, 象征主义, 存在主义, 女性主义

Abstract: Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is one of the most important milestones of surrealism in the twentieth century. Many novels in the 20th and 21st century have been centered around the theme of human bodily transformation. Regarding its literary representational form, it is suffused with individual innovation and imagination, which cannot be easily emulated and formulated, constantly challenging our habitual and quotidian thinking with extreme representational methods. Before Kafka, what kind of metamorphosis do we have? After him, are there any continuations, developments, and transcendence? Are the writings of metamorphosis generated by writers who are stylish and in favor of employing symbolism? Is it true that various kinds of metamorphic writings cannot escape “the anxiety of influence” and the fate of repetition? What is the difference between the classical and the modern metamorphosis? Does it explore the depth of human nature, or the depth of history, society, and culture? Beginning from the discussion of Ovid's Metamorphoses, this article aims to delineate the variations of metamorphic literature both in ancient and modern times within Western and Chinese representations.

Key words: metamorphosis, surrealism, symbolism, existentialism, feminism