Franz Kafka Biography

On July 3, 1883, Franz Kafka was born, the eldest of six children to a middle-class merchant. He grew up as a member of a minority within a minority at a time when there was little or no communication between the two groups or with Prague's primarily Czech-speaking people. Despite having a comprehensive understanding of Czech and a deep understanding of its literature from a young age, Kafka was not accepted. This alienation was represented in his work, most notably in the characters of his stories, who were mostly outcasts who wondered, "Where do I belong?" or "Where does man belong?"

If we look at Franz Kafka Biography, we understand that he had great frustration & depression. Kafka was frustrated by his overbearing father, a prosperous businessman who was a powerful, imposing man. Kafka's childhood and youth were overshadowed by his father's conflict. His delicate and dreamy features were acquired from his mother. Kafka adapted this utter absence of communication into the connection between authoritative figures and man in his literary works.

Kafka has wanted to write since he was a child. For his parents' birthdays, he would write short plays that were performed at home by his three younger sisters, with him serving as stage manager. He was also a voracious reader. In this article let’s understand who was Franz Kafka, Franz Kafka works and Kafka biography. 

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Kafka Education

Kafka received his early education in German schools, a reference to his father's desire for social progress at a time when German was considered the language of the elites. This early education aided him in mastering German, and he later authored all of his famed work in this language. He joined an insurance company in 1907, after finishing his doctorate degree in law. Kafka never felt at ease in this job and quit after a year. He later expressed dissatisfaction with his work schedule, stating that he had to labour for 10 hours a day, leaving him no time to concentrate on his writing. Kafka rejoined the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute just two weeks after resigning, where he was expected to work only six hours a day, giving him plenty of time to focus on his writing.

Initial Days of Writing

Kafka began practising law in October 1906. In early 1908, he joined the staff of the Austrian government's Workmen's Compensation Division, a position he retained until his retirement due to bad health in July 1922. Here he became acquainted with the plight of disadvantaged labourers and produced his first published works, "Conversation with a Beggar" and "Conversation with a Drunkard," both of which were published in 1909. Contemplation, Kafka's first collection of stories, was released in 1913. These sketches are refined, light impressions of life in and around Prague.

In a single night in September 1912, Kafka wrote "The Verdict." The story features all of the elements that are typically associated with Kafka's world, the most disordered universe ever described by a great artist. In "The Verdict," a bedridden authoritarian (domineering) father renders a verdict on his conscientious (very principled) yet guilt-ridden son. His next piece, completed in May 1913, was the narrative "The Stoker," which was eventually integrated into his novel Amerika and earned him his first public acclaim with the Fontane Prize in 1915.

Writing Style 

Kafka's stories take place in both familiar and exotic realms, but what makes them so profound is that they are founded in reality. In each narrative, either the characters, the environment, or the situation are grounded in reality, allowing us to relate to them. However, there is usually a huge twist that pulls the rug out from under our feet. Kafka strikes the perfect balance between realism and the fantastical, pushing the reader to reconsider our views of the world. He addresses themes of isolation, violence, bravery, and transformation through this tension.

'The Metamorphosis,' for example, is one of his most famous short stories. In it, he narrates the story of a typical salesman who gets up one morning to see himself changed into a big insect for no apparent reason. Everything else in the story is entirely normal: his family is as shocked as we are, the world continues as usual, and the salesman himself retains human cognitive abilities. ‘The Metamorphosis,' written in 1912, is regarded as one of the most important pieces of twentieth-century fiction, as it pushes us to ponder what it means to be human.

Best of Kafka’s Stories & Novels

Franz Kafka works started from the age of 16 however his earliest existing story ‘Description of a Struggle’ is written in 1905. The Metamorphosis, Kafka's best-known story, was published in 1913. By using an extraordinary event, Kafka creates a world of mental hallucination for the reader: "When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from restless nightmares, he found himself changed in his bed into a gigantic insect." Gregor dies despite his valiant efforts to adapt to his new surroundings. In the Penal Colony, a novella (a short novel) by Franz Kafka, was released in 1914. Several of his stories were published in 1919 in a book named The Country Doctor, which was dedicated to his father. The following year, his story "The Hunger Artist" was published, and a collection of four pieces was published in 1923. Again, as in The Metamorphosis, it is the outsiders, no matter how sensitive and gifted, who succumb to psychotic delusions, rather than the healthy realists, who always seem to survive the struggle for survival. The one-hundred-page letter to his father is one of Kafka's most important works. It was written in November 1919 to explain his conscience to his father and to declare his full independence from his father's rule.

Without the courage of his friend Max Brod (1884–1968), Kafka's three major book fragments, Amerika, The Trial, and The Castle, would have been lost to the world entirely. Brod refused his friend's desire to burn all of Kafka's unpublished works while editing them after his death. A man is arrested and condemned by a strange court in The Trial, published in 1925. He tries but fails to understand the nature of his guilt and the character of the court. He perishes in obscurity. The Castle, first published in 1926, depicts a newcomer's unsuccessful attempt to gain acceptance and gain access to a castle that houses an unknown supreme authority. Amerika is a film about a young European immigrant's travels in America. Kafka's health was deteriorating between 1920 and 1922, and he was compelled to take sick leave. Kafka travelled to Berlin-Steglitz at the end of July 1923, when he wrote "The Little Woman," his final, reasonably pleasant narrative. Three months before his death on June 3, 1924, he returned to Prague.

Personal Life, Depression & Death

These are major parts of Franz Kafka Biography. In 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, who resided in Berlin and worked as a representative for a dictaphone firm, at the home of his old friend Max Brod. They made a lot of progress over the next five years, met up on occasion, and were twice engaged to be married. However, in 1917, their relationship came to an end. Kafka developed tuberculosis in 1917, necessitating many convalescences during which he was supported by his family, particularly his sister Ottla. He impressed others with his boyish, tidy, and austere good looks, a quiet and cool manner, clear intelligence, and dry sense of humour, despite his fear of being viewed as both physically and psychologically ugly.

Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist and writer, with whom he had an intensive romance in the early 1920s. In 1923, he travelled to Berlin for a short time in order to be away from his family's influence and focus on his writing. He shared a flat in Berlin with Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher from an orthodox Jewish family who had managed to flee the ghetto. Dora became his lover, and her interest in the Talmud encouraged Kafka's decision to study it.

Kafka was known to have struggled with clinical depression and social anxiety throughout his life. Migraines, insomnia, constipation, boils, and other diseases afflicted him, all of which were caused by excessive stresses and strains. He tried to combat all of this with a naturopathic treatment programme, including a vegetarian diet. Kafka's Tuberculosis deteriorated, so he returned to Prague and sought treatment at a sanatorium near Vienna, where he died on June 3, 1924. His remains were eventually returned to Prague, where he was buried at the New Jewish Cemetery on June 11, 1924.

Despite his brief life, Franz Kafka left one of literature's most profound legacies, according to this article on Franz Kafka Short Biography. His haunting stories inspired many of the twentieth century's most notable writers from throughout the world, including Nabokov, Márquez, Borges, Camus, and Satre. Max Brod, one of his old friends, predicted that the century would be known as the "Kafka century." Despite his relevance, Kafka is not one of those writers who is frequently mentioned. In fact, it's unusual to come across a single line that has been mentioned. His ideas and style, on the other hand, continue to inspire. Later writers and artists have poured Kafka's existential curiosity and unique perspective into their own work, forcing the audience to question their beliefs and seek alternative interpretations. Kafka has so pushed generations of readers to reconsider their perspectives and introduced a great way of looking at the world through literature.