Franz Kafka Research Paper

1434 Words3 Pages

Franz Kafka was a German novelist, who is regarded as one of the most significant

figures of twentieth-century literature. He is well-known for his work surrounding a protagonists

who is faced with peculiar and incongruous situations dealing with comprehension of

bureaucratic powers. Kafka explores the philosophy of existentialism motif, accentuating an

individual’s existence, freedom, and choice. Kafka is best known for his works such as Die

Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis), Der Process (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle). His

work rivals that of Camus, Dostoyevsky, and Kierkegaard, and are considered the secondary

Bible of existential thought.

Kafka was born into an upper middle class Jewish family in Prague, Czech Republic …show more content…

He was the eldest son of Julie and

Hermann Kafka. Sadly, Kafka’s younger siblings died throughout and after Kafka’s lifetime. His

younger brothers, Georg and Heinrich Kafka died when they were an infant and their deaths had

a profound impact on Kafka at the age six. After his brothers’ death, he was the only son in his

family with three younger sisters who later died in a Polish ghettos or met their untimely demise

in Nazi death camps after Kafka’s passing. His role as the eldest child and son, made Kafka quite

conscious of his role within the family hierarchy.

Kafka’s relationship with his parents was strained. His mother Julie Lowy Kafka was a

dedicated homemaker and lacked any intellectual understand of her son’s dream of being a

Villarino 2

writer. Even though he was not close to his mother, he intensely identified with his maternal

ancestors due to their intellectual peculiarity, spirituality, and to their piousness.

Kafka’s father on the other hand, was the catalyst that dominated Kafka’s life and his

writing legacy. Herman Kafka was a tyrant that possessed an atrocious temper. The elder Kafka

did not appreciate his son’s creativity and was degrading. “Hermann Kafka's …show more content…

During his time at Alstädter Staatsgymnasium (a high school for the academic

elite) he received high marks and simultaneously, earned the respect of his teachers. However,

Kafka clandestinely rebelled against authoritarian powers and institutions as he was learning

about dehumanized humanistic curriculum.

After Kafka graduated from Alstädter Staatsgymnasium, Kafka enrolled in Charles

Ferdinand University of Prague where he intended to study chemistry. Kafka’s father was not

thrilled about his son’s chose of academia. Within two weeks, Franz Kafka switched to studying

Law and thus, pleasing his father in the process. Even though satisfying his father was one of the

reasons for Kafka switching his major, Law allowed him to take extra classes in art and

literature.

In 1902, Kafka met Max Brod at the University of Prague and the two became friend.

Max Brod, a minor literacy artist would become Kafka’s literary executor. Brod would give

Kafka encouragement during the course of Kafka’s writing and help combat any thoughts of self-

isolation that Kafka had during his day to day life.

By 1906, Kafka had finished his law degree and acquired a job for a year as an

Open Document