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“Mysteriously metamorphosed man…”[i]
Metamorphosis is a biological term and can be best described with the word transformation. In the context of “Diagnosis”, Paul Dorrance sees himself ageing over many years but with the expression metamorphosis it seems like he thinks that he will turn from young to old over night since the process of the transformation in the fauna is mostly a fast one (whereas the single states of invertebrates can take quite some time).
Metamorphosis might seem mysterious for people who observe the change from larval stage to imago stage since the beings afterwards mostly do not have optical similarities to the animals before the pupation.[ii]
Paul Dorrance somehow sees himself as metamorphosed when he is talking about his old and new self. In fact, at some point he finds out that the old and new are one - so, he did not undergo the stages of a metamorphosis.[iii]
For further readings:
[i] Wharton, Edith; Robinson, Roxana (2007): The New York stories of Edith Wharton. New York, NY: New York Review Books (New York Review Books classics). p. 382.
[ii] Cf. Campbell, Neil A.; Reece, Jane B.; Kratochwil, Anselm; Lazar, Thomas (Hg.) (2012): Biologie. 8., aktualisierte Aufl., korr. Nachdruck von 2012. München: Pearson Studium (Pearson Studium - Biologie). Online verfügbar unter http://lib.myilibrary.com/detail.asp?id=404891. p.492.
[iii] Wharton, Edith; Robinson, Roxana (2007): The New York stories of Edith Wharton. New York, NY: New York Review Books (New York Review Books classics). p. 394.
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