Franz Kafka was a man who had a quite challenging life throughout almost his entire life. Despite that he overcame it all. He attracted attention of new readers and could make them relate. He was a perseverer.
Kafka, the eldest son of a dysfunctional upper middle-class Jewish family was born in 1883. From a young age, Kafka already knew of many challenges. He lost his two younger brothers at infancy and didn’t ever have a good relationship with his father. He often had fallouts with his father who didn’t support his sons in writing. Instead of letting these things discourage him, he used them to fuel his imagination and drive, leading to his many successful books.
He was a brilliant man who made thought-provoking pieces of work, with his most famous book, “The Trial” being so popular that it was later adapted into a movie. Kafka was so critical on his own work, he requested his literary executor not to publish, but destroy all of his manuscripts. Surprisingly, when the public learned of his work, he had already
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In 1991, The New York Times released an article titled The Essence of ‘Kafkaesque,’ detailing the influence of Czech-born 20th-century writer, Franz Kafka. More specifically, the article details what Frederick R. Karl believes represents the spirit of Kafka. Commonly using the adjective “kafkaesque” to describe particularly eerie situations that have remnants of Kafka, Karl claimed to the newspaper that kafkaesque is “when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behavior, begins to fall to pieces” (Edwards Nytimes.Com). Releasing an intricate biography on Kafka the same year, Karl was still not the only man influenced by Kafka’s work. David Foster Wallace, William S. Burroughs, and Joseph Heller are just a few authors that were inspired by Kafka’s cryptic writing and dark outlook on
In “A Hunger”, “The Penal Colony”, and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka succeeded in showing his individuals as obsessed with their profession; however their obsession caused their doom because society asks so much from an individual, only so much can be done. However, regardless of that, these individuals choose their work over themselves, and not even bad health or death can stop them. Because society places immures pressure on Kafka’s work obsessed character, they neglect their well-being and cause their own downfall.
As writers, neither Franz Kafka nor Flannery O’Connor received sincere approval from their parents concerning their art. While this fact in no way hampered their desire or ability to create beautifully haunting work, there is evidence that it left bitter feelings. In his letter to his father, Kafka states: “you struck a better blow when you aimed at my writing, and hit, unknowingly, all that went with it. . . but my writing dealt with you, I lamented there only what I could not lament on your breast.”
Sokel, Walter H. "Franz Kafka." European Writers. Ed. George Stade. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. 847-75. Print. European Writers. Ward, Bruce K. "Giving Voice to Isaac: The Sacrificial Victim in Kafka's Trial." Shofar 22.2 (2004): 64+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. .
He was born into a German-speaking family in Prague on July 3rd, 1883. He was the oldest of six children. His father, Harmann Kafka, was a businessman. His mother Julie Kafka was born into a wealthy family. Kafka considered the vast differences in his paternal and maternal relatives as a “split within himself” (Sokel 1).
"Franz Kafka." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2014
Bernstein, Richard. “A VOYAGE THROUGH KAFKA'S AMBIGUITIES”. New York Times 02 May 1983. : n. pag. ProQuest Platinum.
Updike, John. Kafka and the Metamorphosis. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford, 2001 545-548.
Sokel, Walter H. “From Marx to Myth: The Structure and Function Of Self-Alienation In Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Critical Insights: The Metamorphosis (2011): 215-230. Literary Reference Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Pawel, Ernst. A Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. 2nd ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1984.
Kafka used to write letters to his family, and his hatred towards his abusive father is shown in his letter Brief an den Vater (Letter to His Father). In the beginning of the letter, Kafka wrote to his father “You asked me recently why I retain that I am afraid of you, As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even approximately keep in mind while talking. And if I now try to give you an answer in writing, it will still be very incomplete,” (Kafka). Hoping that the letter would mend the gap between Kafka’s and his father’s relationship, he gave it to his mother to give to his father, but she just gave it back to her son. The gap between he and his father made Kafka feel even more isolated in the world he lived
Franz Kafka always had a strong background in literature and writing. Pursuing a career in law, Kafka put his writing skills to good use, but he always had a knack and passion for writing literature such as short stories, poetry and full novels more than working his actual job. By the age of 27, Kafka attended a play put on by a Yiddish theatre troupe performing in Prague. With the lack of money the troupe had, they became stranded in the town, where Kafka gained his interest in Yiddish theatre (Gray, 301). With the stranding of this troupe, critics believed this to be what led to the influence of most of Kafka’s later writings. This is believed due to the evidence of a journal found after Kafka’s death. These journals kept records of performances he attended, plot synopses, character analysis, descriptions of staging and critiques of the performances (Gray, 301). Kafka also had a journal filled with vignettes about specific productions, along with brief reflections on the theater and the production (Puchner, 177). We first see Kafka showin...
Neumann, Gerhard. "The Judgement, Letter to His Father, and the Bourgeois Family." Trans. Stanley Corngold. Reading Kafka. Ed. Mark Anderson. New York: Schocken, 1989. 215-28.
...comes quite evident. Kafka is calling for all of humanity to stand up and take control of their own lives. Through self-examination, Kafka believes, that we can come to terms with some personal truth that gives this life meaning. For years people have looked to worldly and spiritual vehicles to find meaning, Kafka is urging that we instead turn inside to within and find something in our own humanity that gives this life meaning. Much like Goethe, Kafka believes our free will is what makes us human, and the exercise of free will is what makes or lives truly meaningful. So, do not rely on the whims of the governing or even the church; make your own decisions. Kafka urges to decide every day how you are going to live your life and then do it because you never know when the Day of Judgment may come.
Kafka’s work, Before the Law, follows the life of a man attempting to gain access to ‘the Law.’ In his endeavor, the man finds his passage to ‘The Law’ blocked by a doorkeeper. The story continues as the man wastes away in front of the door, never attempting to pass through the gate, and constantly requesting the doorkeeper’s permission to enter. Kafka’s work is trying to show that to pass through the gate one must have the willpower to ignore obstacles and try. He shows how without the willpower to attempt to pass through one will die without knowing whether one could accomplish this goal. The man, lacking the courage to question the doorkeeper’s statement, sits and waits. He loses his worldly possessions, his physical and mental attributes,
ii Kafka, F. The Trial. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir. Introduction by George Steiner. New York, Schocken Books, 1992, 1.