Franz Kafka's Life and Work

2208 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The metamorphosis and life of kafka

Franz Kafka's Life and Work

No person that leads a normal life is likely to write a metaphorical yet literal story about a man transforming into a bug. That being said, no person that leads a normal life is likely to alter a genre as much as Franz Kafka did. With the unusual combination of declining physical health and a resurgence of spiritual ideas, Franz Kafka, actively yearning for life, allowed his mind to travel to the places that his body could not take him. In his recurring themes of guilt, pain, obscurity, and lucidity, are direct connections to his childhood and daily life. His family dynamic, infatuation with culture and theater, and his personal illnesses all shaped his imagination into the poignant yet energetic thing that made him so well-known. With all of his influences combined, Franz Kafka developed a writing style so distinct that he founded a semi-genre all his own: kafkaism.

Unlike many modern writers, Franz Kafka was heavily influenced by his religion and the culture that accompanied it. This interest caused him to maintain a substantial interest in the Yiddish Theater for the rest of his life. Kafka’s parents were very minimalistic regarding Judaistic practice, so Kafka did not embrace his spiritual culture until he moved away from his parents (Beck xii). Once he realized that there was a new outlet for him in spirituality, he identified as a Jew, but was uncertain in his beliefs after living for such a long time without religion (Wilson 1). Being that he was in a mentally turbulent state, his ambivalence toward religion was reflected in the confusion of The Metamorphosis. After taking interest in his religion, he began attending plays put on by the Yiddish Theater Troupe. More than anything, Yiddish ...

... middle of paper ...

... relations, and ever present illnesses that impacted kafka’s work most dramatically. Without this man and all of his influences, the world would be without a great insight: insight into the mind of someone different--Kafka.

Works Cited

Beck, Evelyn Torton. Kafka and the Yiddish theater, its impact on his work.. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971. Print.

Diamant, Kathi. Kafka's last love: the mystery of Dora Diamant. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Print.

Epstein, Joseph. "Is Franz Kafka Overrated?." Atlantic Monthly, The. 01 Jul. 2013: 48. eLibrary. Web. 02 May. 2014.

Murray, Nicholas. Kafka. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.

Neider, Charles. “Kafka Mirrors Our Uncertainties, Frustrations, Fears.” New York Times. 5 Aug, 1945. 93. Print.

Wilson, John. “Kafka and God.” Weekly Standard. 04 Apr. 2005: 35. eLibrary. Web. 24 Apr. 2014

Show More
Related

  • Obsession in A Hunger, The Penal Colony, and Metamorphosis

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘A Hunger Artist’

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bruce, Iris. "Elements of Jewish Folklore in Kafka's Metamorphosis." The Metamorphosis: Translation, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. 107-25. Print.

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Angus, Douglas. Kafka's Metamorphosis and "The Beauty and the Beast" Tale. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 53, No. 1. Jan., 1954, pp. 69-71. Print.

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung: The Metamorphosis of the Fairy Tale Tradition

    1925 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kafka, Franz."The Metamorphosis." The Longman Anthology of World Literature. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2009. 253-284. Print.Works Cited

    Read More

  • Gregor and Grete’s Transformation in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aldiss, Brian W. “Franz Kafka: Overview.” St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. Ed. Jay P. Pederson. 4th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996.

    Read More

  • Gregor Samsa's Metamorphosis in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

    1283 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bernstein, Richard. “A VOYAGE THROUGH KAFKA'S AMBIGUITIES”. New York Times 02 May 1983. : n. pag. ProQuest Platinum.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Marxist Lens Analysis of Kafka's Metamorphosis

    1307 Words  | 3 Pages

    Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a novella that follows the story of Gregor Samsa who, one day, wakes up as an insect. On the surface, it’s just a story about a man who’s transformed into a bug; but, when deeper analyzed, you come to understand that it’s a about a man who was always a bug conflicted by his identity in a class struggle between what is known as the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Kafka’s work was written in a time in history when the struggles between the classes were becoming more defined due to the rise of industrialization and other changing social structures. This story can best be interpreted though a Marxist lens. In Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, his Marxist ideology comes through in the way the characters represent the struggle between the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes during the turn of the century.

    Read More

  • The Metamorphosis as a Depiction of Franz Kafka's Life

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Freedom in Kafka's Metamorphosis

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Greenberg, Martin . The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968.

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Franz Kafka, b. Prague, Bohemia (then belonging to Austria), July 3, 1883, d. June 3, 1924, has come to be one of the most influential writers of this century. Virtually unknown during his lifetime, the works of Kafka have since been recognized as symbolizing modern man's anxiety-ridden and grotesque alienation in an unintelligible, hostile, or indifferent world. Kafka came from a middle-class Jewish family and grew up in the shadow of his domineering shopkeeper father, who impressed Kafka as an awesome patriarch. The feeling of impotence, even in his rebellion, was a syndrome that became a pervasive theme in his fiction. Kafka did well in the prestigious German high school in Prague and went on to receive a law degree in 1906. This allowed him to secure a livelihood that gave him time for writing, which he regarded as the essence--both blessing and curse--of his life. He soon found a position in the semipublic Workers' Accident Insurance institution, where he remained a loyal and successful employee until--beginning in 1917-- tuberculosis forced him to take repeated sick leaves and finally, in 1922, to retire. Kafka spent half his time after 1917 in sanatoriums and health resorts, his tuberculosis of the lungs finally spreading to the larynx.

    Read More

  • Kubler-Ross on Gregor Samsa and Meursault

    1598 Words  | 4 Pages

    New York: Vintage International, 1988. Print. Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Trans.

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka Essay

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    Franz Kafka was a prominent and influential German-language writer of novels and short stories of late 19th century and early twentieth century. Kafka strongly influenced genres such as existentialism. His name and style of writing has lent itself to the word Kafkaesque, which signifies the oppressive, bizarre, illogical and nightmarish qualities of his literary production.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Franz Kafka's The Judgement

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Justice On Trial in Kafka's The Trial

    3824 Words  | 8 Pages

    ii Kafka, F.  The Trial.  Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir.  Introduction by George Steiner.  New York, Schocken Books, 1992, 1.

    Read More

More about Franz Kafka's Life and Work

Open Document