Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
The Metamorphosis was a big hit when Kafka read the story out loud to his buddies in Prague. He had to keep pausing in order to give everyone a chance to stop laughing. (Source)
Kafka's typical day included work from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as an insurance clerk, lunch, a long nap until 7:30 p.m., aerobics (!), dinner with the family, and then writing from 11 p.m. until 3 or 4 a.m. (Source: Reiner Stach. Kafka: The Decisive Years. S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. 2002)
Vladimir Nabokov, the famous author who was also a lepidopterist (someone who studies butterflies and/or moths), insisted that the creature was a three-foot long beetle, with wings underneath his shell, and could have flown if only he had tried. (Source: Nabokov, Vladimir. Lectures on Literature. New York, New York: Harvest. p. 260.)
The Rolling Stones rocked the vermin look for their 1975 album Metamorphosis. (Source)