The Trial (1925) is Kafka's novel about a man arrested and put through nightmarish court proceedings for a crime that is never explained to him.

The Castle (1926) is a Kafka novel about a man who seeks in vain to be allowed into a nearby but frustratingly inaccessible castle.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson is an early transformation story about a physician who uses a potion to change himself into an evil, repulsive man.

Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley is a classic novel about a monster who is frustrated in his attempts to connect with human beings.

"The Fly’’ (1957) by George Langelaan is a story that focuses on a scientist who transforms himself into a fly. The story was reprinted in Wolf's Complete Book of Terror, edited by Leonard Wolf (Potter, 1979) and was made into movies under the same name in 1958 and 1986.

Rhinoceros (1959) by Eugene Ionesco is a play about people turning into rhinoceroses. The play is a study of conformity and the dangers of totalitarianism.

The Stranger (1942) by Albert Camus, also translated as The Outsider, is a novel concerning an alienated outsider who inexplicably commits a murder.

"The Death of Ivan Ilyich’’ (1886) by Leo Tolstoy follows a man without close personal ties whose family does little for him when he contracts a fatal illness.

Notes from Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a novel-length monologue by an alienated anti-hero who stays indoors and denounces the world outside.