What kind of insect was Gregor you ask! Believe it or not, this question has spawned an ungodly amount of literary debate. My first exposure to this debate was in a pub close to Georgetown University called the Brickskeller in which three excessively intoxicated grad. students debated on whether Gregor was a cockroach or a stag beetle. The best known discussion of this topic probably was provided by Vladaimir Nabakov during his lectures upon The Metamorphosis at Cornell University:
...Gregor is too broad and convex to be a cockroach. The charwoman calls him a "dung beetle" (Mistkafer) but ...it is obvious that the good woman is adding the epithet only to be friendly.
Am I making any of this up - No, I am not. Is there a point to this ? - Yes there is! What is the point you say ? - The point is that there is no point! Man's search for mundane and trivial knowledge will never be quenched! If it could be quenched, why would over 100,000 people call Nick at Nite to voice their opinion on whether Jeannie or Samantha was the more powerful!
