”When I went on my publicity tour for The Fly, I was often asked what insect I would want to be if I underwent an entomological transformation. My answers varied, depending on my mood, though I had a fondness for the dragonfly, not only for its spectacular flying but also for the novelty of its ferocious underwater nymphal stage with its deadly extendable underslung jaw; I also thought that mating in the air might be pleasant. Would that be your soul, then, this dragonfly, flying heavenward? came one response. Is that not really what you’re looking for? No, not really, I said. I’d just be a simple dragonfly, and then, if I managed to avoid being eaten by a bird or a frog, I would mate, and as summer ended, I would die.”
Citerat ur ”The Beetle and the Fly” av den kanadensiske regissören David Cronenberg. Texten är skriven som introducerande förord till Susan Bernofskys hyllade nyöversättning av Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis (WW Norton & Co).
Cronenberg, som förutom The Fly (1986) med Jeff Goldblum i huvudrollen gjort flera filmatiseringar av litterära texter, senast Cosmopolis som är en filmatisering av Don DeLillos roman med samma namn, söker svaret på frågan varför insektsförvandlingar är ett stående inslag i den litterära traditionen.
O.W.
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