insect

The Kafka collection I have has a kick-ass intro by John Updike and includes some speculation on what kind of an insect Gregor becomes. The charwoman of course calls him a dung beetle, and others theorize that a cockroach is the appropriate pest for the urban setting. However, it seems likely, based on the number of leg, that he’s not technically an insect at all but some sort of millipede/centipede-type thing. As Updike points out, the uncertainty is part of the story’s greatness.