An Encounter With The Kafkaesque Guest A Chinese Mantis ( Tenodera sinensis ), encountered on a summer morning, inspired by the absurd anxieties of Gregor Samsa and the ancient, prehistoric world it outlived. Waking up to find a prehistoric visitor on my bedroom wall felt like a surreal intrusion from the world of Franz Kafka. On a quiet Tuesday summer morning, I woke up to an unexpected guest. As I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at a praying mantis perched on the wall, just two feet from my face. (It was a Chinese Mantis Tenodera sinensis .) For a moment, I lay there paralyzed, utterly fascinated by its bizarre anatomy—those impossibly long legs, a needle–thin body, two sweeping antennae, and an ov...