Franz Kafka (German pronunciation: [ˈfʁants ˈkafka]; 3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was one of the most influential novelists A novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century of the 20th century, whose works after his death came to be regarded as one of the major achievements of world literature. The term "Kafkaesque" has entered the English language.

Kafka was born to middle class The middle class are any class in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the bourgeoisie before or during capitalism[ German-speaking Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos parents in Prague Prague (pronounced /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] , see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included Praga mater urbium/Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") in Czech or, Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: Čechy; German: Böhmen ; Polish: Czechy; French: Bohême; Latin: Bohemia) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague. In a broader meaning, it often refers to the entire Czech territory,, now part of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic (pronounced /ˈtʃɛk/ chek; Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The Czech Republic has been a, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The house in which he was born, on the Old Town Square Old Town Square (Czech: Staroměstské náměstí ) is a historic square in the Old Town quarter of Prague in the Czech Republic at 50°5′14″N 14°25′17″E / 50.08722°N 14.42139°E next to Prague's Church of St Nicholas, today contains a permanent exhibition devoted to the author.[1]

His body of work—the novels The Trial The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime never revealed either to him or the reader (1925), The Castle The Castle is a novel by Franz Kafka. In it a protagonist, known only as K., struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities of a castle who govern the village where he wants to work as a land surveyor. Kafka died before finishing the work, but suggested it would end with the Land Surveyor dying in the village; the castle notifying him on (1926) and Amerika (1927), short stories A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers, due somewhat in part to the fragmentation of the medium including The Metamorphosis The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world; Elias Canetti described it as "one of the few great and perfect works of the poetic imagination written during (1915) and In the Penal Colony "In the Penal Colony" is a short story first published in German by Franz Kafka. Written in 1914, it is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's The Torture Garden as an influence. As in some of Kafka's other writings, the narrator in this story seems detached from, or perhaps (1914)—is now considered among the most original in Western literature Western literature refers to the literature written in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque, Hungarian, and so forth. Western literature is considered one of the defining elements of Western civilization. Most of Kafka's output, much of it unfinished An unfinished work is a creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of his or her control . Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have been like; sometimes they are finished by others and at the time of his death, was published posthumously.[2]

Contents

Life and work

Kafka at the age of five

Kafka was born into a middle-class Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos family in Prague Prague (pronounced /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] , see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included Praga mater urbium/Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") in Czech or, the capital of Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: Čechy; German: Böhmen ; Polish: Czechy; French: Bohême; Latin: Bohemia) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague. In a broader meaning, it often refers to the entire Czech territory,.

The former house of Franz Kafka. It now stands as a memorial open to the public without fee, but also contains items related to Kafka and Prague for sale.

His father, Hermann Kafka (1852–1931), was described as a "huge, selfish, overbearing businessman"[3] and by Kafka himself as "a true Kafka in strength, health, appetite, loudness of voice, eloquence, self-satisfaction, worldly dominance, endurance, presence of mind, [and] knowledge of human nature". Hermann was the fourth child of Jacob Kafka, a shochet or ritual slaughterer Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws. The act is performed by severing the trachea, oesophagus,carotid arteries and jugular veins, and allowing the blood to drain out. It is believed to kill quickly and with minimal pain but some scientists and animal welfare organisations have disputed this, even, and came to Prague from Osek, a Czech-speaking Jewish village near Písek in southern Bohemia. After working as a traveling sales representative, he established himself as an independent retailer of men's and women's fancy goods and accessories, employing up to 15 people and using a jackdaw The Jackdaw , sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw, European Jackdaw, Western Jackdaw, or formerly simply the daw, is a dark-plumaged passerine bird in the crow family. It is found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, and four subspecies are recognised. At 34–39 cm in length, it is one of the smallest species in Corvus, the genus of (kavka in Czech) as his business logo. Kafka's mother, Julie (1856–1934), was the daughter of Jakob Löwy, a prosperous brewer in Poděbrady, and was better educated than her husband.[4]

Franz was the eldest of six children.[5] He had two younger brothers: Georg and Heinrich, who died at the ages of fifteen months and six months, respectively, before Franz was seven; and three younger sisters, Gabriele ("Elli") (1889–1944), Valerie ("Valli") (1890–1944), and Ottilie ("Ottla") (1892–1943). On business days, both parents were absent from the home. His mother helped to manage her husband's business and worked in it as many as 12 hours a day. The children were largely reared by a series of governesses and servants. Franz's relationship with his father was severely troubled as explained in the Letter to His Father in which he complained of being profoundly affected by his father's authoritative and demanding character.

During World War II, Franz's sisters were sent with their families to the Łódź Ghetto and died there or in concentration camps. Ottla was sent to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German concentration camp during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic and then on 7 October 1943 to the death camp Extermination camps were built by Germany during World War II to systematically kill millions of primarily Jewish victims. Non-Jews were also killed in these camps, including many gentile Poles and Soviet prisoners of war. This genocide of the Jewish people was the Third Reich's "Final solution to the Jewish question". The Nazi attempts at Auschwitz Auschwitz (German pronunciation: [ˈaʊʃvɪts]; Konzentrationslager Auschwitz ) was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated in occupied Poland by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or main camp); Auschwitz II-, where 1267 children and 51 guardians, including Ottla, were gassed to death on their arrival.[6]

Education

Kinsky Palace where Kafka attended gymnasium and his father later owned a shop

Kafka's first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech.[7] Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary (1857), and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style. From 1889 to 1893, he attended the Deutsche Knabenschule, the boys' elementary school at the Masný trh/Fleischmarkt (meat market), the street now known as Masná street. His Jewish Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed education was limited to his Bar Mitzvah According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach the 13 years for boys and 12 for girls they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (English: Son or Daughter (Bat) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate their Bat Mitzvahs at age 13[citation needed], along with celebration at 13 and going to the synagogue A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. (it might also be of interest that the word when broken down could mean, "learning together" (syn - gr. together and aghoghei gr. learning or training) four times a year with his father, which he loathed.[8] After elementary school, he was admitted to the rigorous classics-oriented state gymnasium, Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium, an academic secondary school with eight grade levels, where German was also the language of instruction, at Old Town Square Old Town Square (Czech: Staroměstské náměstí ) is a historic square in the Old Town quarter of Prague in the Czech Republic at 50°5′14″N 14°25′17″E / 50.08722°N 14.42139°E , within the Kinsky Palace. He completed his Maturita Matura is the word commonly used in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine (obsolete in Ukrainian language) for the final exams young adults (aged usually 18 or 19) take at the end exams in 1901.[9]

Admitted to the Charles-Ferdinand University Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1347, it was also the first university in the Holy Roman Empire and in Central Europe in general, and is considered the earliest German university. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe of Prague, Kafka first studied chemistry, but switched after two weeks to law. This offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, who would become a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June, 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.[2]

Employment

On 1 November 1907, he was hired at the Assicurazioni Generali, a large Italian insurance company, where he worked for nearly a year. His correspondence, during that period, witnesses that he was unhappy with his working time schedule—from 8 p.m. (20:00) until 6 a.m. (06:00)—as it made it extremely difficult for him to concentrate on his writing. On 15 July 1908, he resigned, and two weeks later found more congenial employment with the Worker's Accident Insurance Workers' compensation is a form of insurance that provides compensation medical care for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. The tradeoff between assured, limited coverage and lack of recourse outside the Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country in current Czech republic and other lands in middle europe, a de-facto independent member of the Holy Roman Empire and thereafter a part of the Austrian Empire. The job involved investigating personal injury Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. The term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff's injury has been caused by the negligence of another, but also arises in defamation torts to industrial workers, and assessing compensation. Management professor Peter Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker was a writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.” His books and scholarly and popular articles explored how humans are organized across the business, government and the nonprofit sectors of society. His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century, credits Kafka with developing the first civilian hard hat A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments, such as construction sites, to protect the head from injury by falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, bad weather and electric shock. Inside the helmet is a suspension that spreads the helmet's weight over the top of the head. It also provides a space of while he was employed at the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute, but this is not supported by any document from his employer.[10] His father often referred to his son's job as insurance officer as a "Brotberuf", literally "bread job", a job done only to pay the bills. While Kafka often claimed that he despised the job, he was a diligent and capable employee. He was also given the task of compiling and composing the annual report An Annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance. Most jurisdictions require companies to prepare and disclose annual reports, and many require the and was reportedly quite proud of the results, sending copies to friends and family. In parallel, Kafka was also committed to his literary work. Together with his close friends Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, these three were called "Der enge Prager Kreis", the close Prague circle, which was part of a broader Prague Circle, "a loosely knit group of German-Jewish writers who contributed to the culturally fertile soil of Prague from the 1880s till after World War I."[11]

In 1911, Karl Hermann, spouse of his sister Elli, asked Kafka to collaborate in the operation of an asbestos Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their asbestiform habit, long, (1:20) thin fibrous crystals. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma (a formerly rare cancer factory known as Prager Asbestwerke Hermann and Co. Kafka showed a positive attitude at first, dedicating much of his free time to the business. During that period, he also found interest and entertainment in the performances of Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and modernist plays. At its height, its geographical, despite the misgivings of even close friends such as Max Brod, who usually supported him in everything else. Those performances also served as a starting point for his growing relationship with Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed.[12]

Later years

In 1912, at Max Brod's home, Kafka met Felice Bauer, who lived in Berlin and worked as a representative for a dictaphone Dictaphone was an American company, a producer of dictation machines—sound recording devices most commonly used to record speech for later playback or to be typed into print. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark, but in some places it has also become a common way to refer to all such devices, and is used as a genericized trademark. At company. Over the next five years they corresponded a great deal, met occasionally, and twice were engaged to be married. Their relationship finally ended in 1917.

In 1917, Kafka began to suffer from tuberculosis Tuberculosis or TB is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit. Most infections in, which would require frequent convalescence during which he was supported by his family, most notably his sister Ottla. Despite his fear of being perceived as both physically and mentally repulsive, he impressed others with his boyish, neat, and austere good looks, a quiet and cool demeanor, obvious intelligence and dry sense of humor.[13]

Kafka developed an intense relationship with Czech journalist and writer Milena Jesenská. In July of 1923, throughout a vacation to Graal-Müritz on the Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The Kattegat continues, he met Dora Diamant and briefly moved to Berlin in the hope of distancing himself from his family's influence to concentrate on his writing. In Berlin, he lived with Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher from an orthodox Jewish family, who was independent enough to have escaped her past in the ghetto. She became his lover, and influenced Kafka's interest in the Talmud The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism, in the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history.[14]

Kafka's tuberculosis worsened in spite of using naturopathic Naturopathy is an alternative medical system that focuses on natural remedies and the body's vital ability to heal and maintain itself. Naturopathic philosophy favors a holistic approach and minimal use of surgery and drugs. Naturopathy comprises many different treatment modalities of varying degrees of acceptance by the medical community; diet treatments; he returned to Prague, then went to Dr. Hoffmann's sanatorium A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis (TB) before antibiotics. A distinction is sometimes made between "sanitarium" (a kind of health resort, as in the Battle Creek Sanitarium) and "sanatorium" (a hospital) in Kierling near Vienna Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area,[citation needed] more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and for treatment, where he died on 3 June 1924, apparently from starvation. The condition of Kafka's throat made eating too painful for him, and since parenteral nutrition Parenteral nutrition is feeding a person intravenously, bypassing the usual process of eating and digestion. The person receives nutritional formulas containing salts, glucose, amino acids, lipids and added vitamins. It is called total parenteral nutrition (TPN) when no food is given by other routes had not yet been developed, there was no way to feed him. His body was ultimately brought back to Prague where he was buried on 11 June 1924, in the New Jewish Cemetery (sector 21, row 14, plot 33) in Prague-Žižkov.

When Kafka died he requested that his friend Max Brod destroy any of his unpublished works, writing: "Dearest Max, My last request: Everything I leave behind me [is] to be burned unread." However Brod ignored this and instead published The Trial, Amerika and The Castle. [15]

Political views

Kafka was a libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that aspire to create a society without political, economic, or social hierarchies, i.e. a society in which all violent or coercive institutions would be dissolved (or at least drastically reduced in scope), and in their place every person would have free, equal access to the tools of (or anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. It seeks to diminish or even abolish authority in the conduct of human relations. Anarchists may widely disagree on what additional criteria are required in anarchism. The Oxford Companion to), and attended meetings of the Mladych Klub, a Czech anarchist, anti-militarist, and anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen[citation needed]. It suggests a more active and partisan role than mere laïcité[citation needed], and has at times organization[16]. Hugo Bergmann, who attended both the same elementary and high schools as Kafka, had a falling out with Kafka during their last academic year (1900-1901) because "[Kafka's] socialism and my Zionism were much too strident." "Franz became a socialist, I became a Zionist in 1898. The synthesis of Zionism and socialism did not yet exist." Bergmann claims that Kafka openly wore a red carnation to school to show his support for socialism.[17] In one diary entry, Kafka referenced influential anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin: "Don't forget Kropotkin!"[18]

Judaism and Zionism

Kafka was not formally involved in Jewish religious life, but he showed a great interest in Jewish culture and spirituality. He was well versed in Yiddish literature, and loved Yiddish theatre.[19]

In his essay, Sadness in Palestine?!, Dan Miron explores Kafka's connection to Zionism. "It seems that those who claim that there was such a connection and that Zionism played a central role in his life and literary work, and those who deny the connection altogether or dismiss its importance, are both wrong. The truth lies in some very elusive place between these two simplistic poles."[19]

According to James Hawes, Kafka, though much aware of his own Jewishness, did not incorporate his Jewishness into his work. "There is zero actual Jewishness" nor any Jewish characters or specifically Jewish scenes in his work, says Hawes.[20] In the opinion of literary critic Harold Bloom, author of The Western Canon, however, "Despite all his denials and beautiful evasions, [Kafka's writing] quite simply is Jewish writing."[12] Lothar Kahn is likewise unequivocal: "The presence of Jewishness in Kafka's oeuvre is no longer subject to doubt."[21] Pavel Eisner, one of Kafka's first translators, interprets the classic, The Trial, as the "triple dimension of Jewish existence in Prague is embodied in Kafka's The Trial: his protagonist Josef K. is (symbolically) arrested by a German (Rabensteiner), a Czech (Kullich), and a Jew (Kaminer). He stands for the "guiltless guilt" that imbues the Jew in the modern world, although there is no evidence that he himself is a Jew." [22]

Livia Rothkirchen calls Kafka the "symbolic figure of his era." His era included numerous other Jewish writers (Czech, German, and national Jews) who were sensitive to German, Czech, Austrian, and Jewish culture. According to Rothkirchen, "This situation lent their writings a broad cosmopolitan outlook and a quality of exaltation bordering on transcendental metaphysical contemplation. An illustrious example is Franz Kafka."[22]

Literary career

Franz Kafka's grave in Prague-Žižkov.

Kafka's writing attracted little attention until after his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels, unless The Metamorphosis is considered a (short) novel. Prior to his death, Kafka wrote to his friend and literary executor Max Brod: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread."[23] Brod overrode Kafka's wishes, believing that Kafka had given these directions to him specifically because Kafka knew he would not honor them—Brod had told him as much. (His lover, Dora Diamant, also ignored his wishes, secretly keeping up to 20 notebooks and 35 letters until they were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933. An ongoing international search is being conducted for these missing Kafka papers.) Brod, in fact, would oversee the publication of most of Kafka's work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.

All of Kafka's published works, except several letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German.

Writing style

Kafka often made extensive use of a characteristic peculiar to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions cannot be duplicated in English, so it is up to the resourceful translator to provide the reader with the same (or at least equivalent) effect found in the original text.[24]

Another virtually insurmountable problem facing the translator is how to deal with the author's intentional use of ambiguous terms or of words that have several meanings. One such instance is found in the first sentence of The Metamorphosis. English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect"; in Middle German, however, Ungeziefer literally means "unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice"[25] and is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug" – a very general term, unlike the scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor, the protagonist of the story, as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation. Another example is Kafka's use of the German noun Verkehr in the final sentence of The Judgment. Literally, Verkehr means intercourse and, as in English, can have either a sexual or non-sexual meaning; in addition, it is used to mean transport or traffic. The sentence can be translated as: "At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge."[26] What gives added weight to the obvious double meaning of 'Verkehr' is Kafka's confession to Max Brod that when he wrote that final line, he was thinking of "a violent ejaculation".[27]

Critical interpretations

Bronze statue of Franz Kafka in Prague.

Critics have interpreted Kafka's works in the context of a variety of literary schools, such as modernism, magic realism, and so on.[28] The apparent hopelessness and absurdity that seem to permeate his works are considered emblematic of existentialism. Others have tried to locate a Marxist influence in his satirization of bureaucracy in pieces such as In the Penal Colony, The Trial, and The Castle,[28] whereas others point to anarchism as an inspiration for Kafka's anti-bureaucratic viewpoint. Still others have interpreted his works through the lens of Judaism (Borges made a few perceptive remarks in this regard), through freudianism[28] (because of his familial struggles), or as allegories of a metaphysical quest for God (Thomas Mann was a proponent of this theory).[29]

Themes of alienation and persecution are repeatedly emphasized, and the emphasis on this quality, notably in the work of Marthe Robert, partly inspired the counter-criticism of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who argued in Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature that there was much more to Kafka than the stereotype of a lonely figure writing out of anguish, and that his work was more deliberate, subversive, and more "joyful" than it appears to be.

Furthermore, an isolated reading of Kafka's work—focusing on the futility of his characters' struggling without the influence of any studies on Kafka's life—reveals the humor of Kafka. Kafka's work, in this sense, is not a written reflection of any of his own struggles, but a reflection of how people invent struggles.[30]

Biographers have said that it was common for Kafka to read chapters of the books he was working on to his closest friends, and that those readings usually concentrated on the humorous side of his prose. Milan Kundera refers to the essentially surrealist humour of Kafka as a main predecessor of later artists such as Federico Fellini, Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes and Salman Rushdie. For García Márquez, it was as he said the reading of Kafka's The Metamorphosis that showed him "that it was possible to write in a different way."

Law in Kafka's fiction

Many attempts have been made to examine Kafka’s legal background and the role of law in his fiction. These attempts remain relatively few in number compared to the vast collection of literature devoted to the study of his life and works, and marginal to legal scholarship. Mainstream studies of Kafka’s works normally present his fiction as an engagement with absurdity, a critique of bureaucracy or a search for redemption, failing to account for the images of law and legality which constitute an important part of “the horizon of meaning” in his fiction. Many of his descriptions of the legal proceedings in The Trial – metaphysical, absurd, bewildering and “Kafkaesque” as they might appear – are, in fact, based on accurate and informed descriptions of German and Austrian criminal proceedings of the time. The significance of law in Kafka’s fiction is also neglected within legal scholarship, for as Richard Posner pointed out, most lawyers do not consider writings about law in the form of fiction of any relevance to the understanding or the practice of law. Regardless of the concerns of mainstream studies of Kafka with redemption and absurdity, and what jurists such as Judge Posner might think relevant to law and legal practice, the fact remains that Kafka was an insurance lawyer who, besides being involved in litigation, was also “keenly aware of the legal debates of his day” (Ziolkowski, 2003, p. 224).[31]

In a recent study which uses Kafka's office writings[32] as its point of departure, Reza Banakar argues that "legal images in Kafka’s fiction are worthy of examination, not only because of their bewildering, enigmatic, bizarre, profane and alienating effects, or because of the deeper theological or existential meaning they suggest, but also as a particular concept of law and legality which operates paradoxically as an integral part of the human condition under modernity[33]. To explore this point Kafka’s conception of law is placed in the context of his overall writing as a search for Heimat which takes us beyond the instrumental understanding of law advocated by various schools of legal positivism and allows us to grasp law as a form of experience" (see Banakar 2010).

Publications

Much of Kafka's work was unfinished, or prepared for publication posthumously by Max Brod. The novels The Castle (which stopped mid-sentence and had ambiguity on content), The Trial (chapters were unnumbered and some were incomplete) and Amerika (Kafka's original title was The Man who Disappeared) were all prepared for publication by Brod. It appears Brod took a few liberties with the manuscript (moving chapters, changing the German and cleaning up the punctuation), and thus the original German text was altered prior to publication. The editions by Brod are generally referred to as the Definitive Editions.

According to the publisher's note[34] for The Castle,[35] Malcolm Pasley was able to get most of Kafka's original handwritten work into the Oxford Bodleian Library in 1961. The text for The Trial was later acquired through auction and is stored at the German literary archives[36] at Marbach, Germany.[37]

Subsequently, Pasley headed a team (including Gerhard Neumann, Jost Schillemeit, and Jürgen Born) in reconstructing the German novels and S. Fischer Verlag republished them.[38] Pasley was the editor for Das Schloß (The Castle), published in 1982, and Der Prozess (The Trial), published in 1990. Jost Schillemeit was the editor of Der Verschollene (Amerika) published in 1983. These are all called the "Critical Editions" or the "Fischer Editions." The German critical text of these, and Kafka's other works, may be found online at The Kafka Project.[39] This site is continuously building the repository.

There is another Kafka Project based at San Diego State University, which began in 1998 as the official international search for Kafka's last writings. Consisting of 20 notebooks and 35 letters to Kafka's last companion, Dora Diamant (later, Dymant-Lask), this missing literary treasure was confiscated from her by the Gestapo in Berlin 1933. The Kafka Project's four-month search of government archives in Berlin in 1998 uncovered the confiscation order and other significant documents. In 2003, the Kafka Project discovered three original Kafka letters, written in 1923. Building on the search conducted by Max Brod and Klaus Wagenbach in the mid-1950s, the Kafka Project at SDSU has an advisory committee of international scholars and researchers, and is calling for volunteers who want to help solve a literary mystery.[40]

In 2008, academic and Kafka expert James Hawes accused scholars of suppressing details of the pornography Kafka subscribed to (published by the same man who was Kafka's own first publisher) in order to preserve his image as a quasi-saintly "outsider".[20]

In 2010 a series of boxes containing writings, letters, and sketches of the author thought to be lost were opened. Among the writings was a short story by Kafka.

Translations

There are two primary sources for the translations based on the two German editions. The earliest English translations were by Edwin and Willa Muir and published by Alfred A. Knopf. These editions were widely published and spurred the late-1940s surge in Kafka's popularity in the United States. Later editions (notably the 1954 editions) had the addition of the deleted text translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. These are known as "Definitive Editions." They translated both The Trial, Definitive and The Castle, Definitive among other writings. Definitive Editions are generally accepted to have a number of biases and to be dated in interpretation.

After Pasley and Schillemeit completed their recompilation of the German text, the new translations were completed and published – The Castle, Critical by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 1998), The Trial, Critical by Breon Mitchell (Schocken Books, 1998) and Amerika: The Man Who Disappeared by Michael Hoffman (New Directions Publishing, 2004). These editions are often noted as being based on the restored text.

Published works

See also: Franz Kafka bibliography
Short stories

Many collections of the stories have been published, and they include:

Novellas
Novels
Diaries and notebooks
Letters

Commemoration

The entrance to the Franz Kafka museum in Prague.

Franz Kafka has a museum dedicated to his work in Prague, Czech Republic.

The term "Kafkaesque" is widely used to describe concepts, situations, and ideas which are reminiscent of Kafka's works, particularly The Trial and The Metamorphosis.

In Mexico, the phrase "Si Franz Kafka fuera mexicano, sería costumbrista" (If Franz Kafka were Mexican, he would be a Costumbrista writer) is commonly used in newspapers, blogs, and online forums to tell how hopeless and absurd the situation in the country is.[41]

It has been noted that "from the Czech point of view, Kafka was German, and from the German point of view he was, above all, Jewish" and that this was a common "fate of much of Western Jewry."[11]

Literary and cultural references

Literature

Short stories

Film and Television

Metamorphosis

Theatre

Music

See also

References

  1. ^ Franz Kafka Franz Kafka
  2. ^ a b (Spanish)Contijoch, Francesc Miralles (2000) "Franz Kafka". Oceano Grupo Editorial, S.A. Barcelona. ISBN 84-494-1811-9.
  3. ^ Corngold 1973
  4. ^ Gilman, Sander L. (2005) Franz Kafka. Reaktion Books Ltd. London, UK. p. 20–21. ISBN 1-88187-264-5.
  5. ^ Hamalian ([1975], 3).
  6. ^ Danuta Czech: Kalendarz wydarzeń w KL Auschwitz, Oświęcim 1992, p. 534. In the archives of the camp a list with the names of the guardians was preserved.
  7. ^ Derek Sayer, "The language of nationality and the nationality of language: Prague 1780–1920 – Czech Republic history", Past and Present, 1996; 153: 164–210.
  8. ^ Letter to his Father, p. 150
  9. ^ Lambent Traces: Franz Kafka S Corngold - 2004
  10. ^ Drucker, Peter. Managing in the Next Society. See: Franz Kafka, Amtliche Schriften. Eds. K. Hermsdorf & B. Wagner (2004) (Engl. transl.: The Office Writings. Eds. S. Corngold, J. Greenberg & B. Wagner. Transl. E. Patton with R. Hein (2008)); cf. H.-G. Koch & K. Wagenbach (eds.), Kafkas Fabriken (2002).
  11. ^ a b The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, notes. Herberth Czermak. Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliffs Notes 1973, 1996.
  12. ^ a b "Kafka and Judaism". Victorian.fortunecity.com. http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vermeer/287/judaism.htm. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  13. ^ Ryan McKittrick speaks with director Dominique Serrand and Gideon Lester about Amerika www.amrep.org
  14. ^ Lothar Hempel www.atlegerhardsen.com
  15. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/25/israel-library-franz-kafka-trial
  16. ^ http://libcom.org/library/franz-kafka-libertarian-socialism
  17. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=d1wxHUOcPdcC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%22Hugo+Bergmann%22+Kafka+socialism&source=bl&ots=ruBA-NWq6r&sig=G-0DLO1TFwiSahfPQllY_cGong4&hl=en&ei=CCcETPqECoH98Aaj2OCeDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Hugo%20Bergmann%22%20Kafka%20socialism&f=false
  18. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=wVz2auyt81sC&pg=PA148&dq=Kafka+Kropotkin&cd=4#v=onepage&q=Kropotkin&f=false
  19. ^ a b "Sadness in Palestine". Haaretz.com. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040561.html. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  20. ^ a b Franz Kafka’s porn brought out of the closet - Times Online at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk
  21. ^ Lothar Kahn, in Between Two Worlds: a cultural history of German-Jewish writers, page 191
  22. ^ a b Livia Rothkirchen, The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia: facing the Holocaust, University of Nebraska Press, 2005 p. 23
  23. ^ Quoted in Publisher's Note to The Castle, Schocken Books.
  24. ^ Kafka (1996, xi).
  25. ^ ungeziefer : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)
  26. ^ Kafka (1996, 75).
  27. ^ Brod. Max: "Franz Kafka, a Biography". (trans. Humphreys Roberts) New York: Schocken Books,1960. p. 129.
  28. ^ a b c Franz Kafka 1883 – 1924 www.coskunfineart.com
  29. ^ Thomas Mann, the ironic German. E Heller, T Mann - 1981
  30. ^ Franz Kafka (1883-1924)nih.gov.D Felisati, G Sperati - Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, 2005 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  31. ^ For an overview of studies which focus on Kafka’s images of law see Banakar, Reza. “In Search of Heimat: A Note on Franz Kafka's Concept of Law”. Forthcoming in Law and Literature 2010. An e-copy available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1574870
  32. ^ Corngold, Stanley et. al., (eds.) Franz Kafka: The Office Writings. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2009.
  33. ^ "In Search of Heimat: A Note on Franz Kafka's Concept of Law” at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1574870
  34. ^ A Kafka For The 21st century by Arthur Samuelson, publisher, Schocken Books www.jhom.com
  35. ^ Schocken Books, 1998
  36. ^ (German) Herzlich Willkommen www.dla-marbach.de
  37. ^ (publisher's note, The Trial, Schocken Books, 1998
  38. ^ Stepping into Kafka’s head, Jeremy Adler, Times Literary Supplement, 13 October 1995 <http://www.textkritik.de/rezensionen/kafka/einl_04.htm>
  39. ^ The Kafka Project – all Kafka text in German According to the Manuscript www.kafka.org
  40. ^ Sources: Kafka, by Nicolas Murray, pages 367, 374; Kafka's Last Love, by Kathi Diamant; "Summary of the Results of the Kafka Project Berlin Research 1 June – September 1998" published in December 1998 Kafka Katern, quarterly of the Kafka Circle of the Netherlands. More information is available at http://www.kafkaproject.com
  41. ^ Aquella, Daniel (22 November 2006). "México kafkiano y costumbrista". Daquella manera:Paseo personal por inquietudes culturales, sociales y lo que tengamos a bien obrar.. http://www.daquellamanera.org/?q=node/144. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  42. ^ Bashevis Singer, Isaac (1970). A Friend of Kafka, and Other Stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 311. ISBN 0-37415-880-0.
  43. ^ (German) Menschenkörper movie website www.menschenkoerper.de
  44. ^ Image, Volume 62

Bibliography

External links

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Authority control: LCCN: n81063091
Works by Franz Kafka
Novels The Trial · The Castle · Amerika
Short stories
1904–12 "Description of a Struggle" · Wedding Preparations in the Country · The Judgment · Contemplation · The Stoker · The Metamorphosis
1914–17 "In the Penal Colony" · "The Village Schoolmaster" ("The Giant Mole") · "Before the Law" · "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" · "The Warden of the Tomb" · "A Country Doctor" · "The Hunter Gracchus" · "The Great Wall of China" · "A Message from the Emperor" · "A Report to an Academy" · "A Dream" · "Up in the Gallery" · "A Fratricide" · "The Next Village" · "A Visit to a Mine" · "Jackals and Arabs" · "The Bridge" · "The Bucket Rider" · "The New Advocate" · "An Old Manuscript" · "The Knock at the Manor Gate" · "Eleven Sons" · "My Neighbor" · "A Crossbreed (A Sport)" · "The Cares of a Family Man"
1917–23 "The Refusal" · "A Hunger Artist" · "Investigations of a Dog" · "A Little Woman" · "The Burrow" · "Josiephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" · "A Common Confusion" · "The Truth about Sancho Panza" · "The Silence of the Sirens" · "Prometheus" · "The City Coat of Arms" · "Poseidon" · "Fellowship" · "At Night" · "The Problem of Our Laws" · "The Conscription of Troops" · "The Test" · "The Vulture" · "The Helmsman" · "The Top" · "A Little Fable" · "Home-Coming" · "First Sorrow" · "The Departure" · "Advocates" · "The Married Couple" · "Give it Up!" · "On Parables"
Short story collections The Complete Stories · The Sons · The Penal Colony · Parables and Paradoxes · The Great Wall of China · Dearest Father · Description of a Struggle
Diaries and notebooks The Diaries 1910–1923 · The Blue Octavo Notebooks
Letters Letter to His Father · Letters to Felice · Letters to Ottla · Letters to Milena · Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors
Professional Writings The Office Writings
Bibliography
Adaptations of works by Franz Kafka
Feature films

The Trial (USA 1962) · Class Relations (from Amerika; Germany 1984) · Kafka (USA 1991) · The Trial (USA 1993) · The Castle (Germany 1997) · K (USA/Iran/Morocco 2002)
Short films

Metamorphosis (Germany 1975) · Metamorphosis (Sweden 1976) · The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Canada 1977) · Metamorphosis (UK 1987) · Franz Kafka (Poland 1992) · Description of a Struggle (USA 1993) · Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (UK 1993) · Zoetrope (from "In the Penal Colony"; USA 2000) · The Hunger Artist (USA 2002) · Metamorphosis (Russia 2002) · Human Body (from "A Country Doctor"; Germany 2004) · Kafka goes to the Forest(Brazil 2009)
Literature

Kafka Americana
Comics

Give It Up! · The Metamorphosis · Introducing Kafka · Il Processo di Franz Kafka
Persondata
NAME Kafka, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION German Czech novelist
DATE OF BIRTH 3 July 1883)
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague, Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 3 June 1924
PLACE OF DEATH Vienna, Austria

Categories: 1883 births | 1924 deaths | People from Prague | Ashkenazi Jews | Austrian novelists | Charles University alumni | Czech-Austrian Jews | Czech novelists | Deaths from tuberculosis | Fabulists | Franz Kafka | Czech anarchists | Czech socialists | Czech diarists | German-language writers | Infectious disease deaths in Austria | Jewish anarchists | Jewish novelists | Magic realism writers | Jewish existentialists | Czech Austro-Hungarians | 20th-century novelists

 

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What awards did Franz Kafka win?
Q. What are any awards that he won for his writing? Especially for his story "the metamorphosis" but anything would help! Also, what is some information about the Franz Kafka Award? [also known as the Franz Kafka Prize] Thanks!
Asked by Maggie Renee - Sun Nov 30 15:25:24 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I don't think he won any major awards at all. The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary prize in the Czech Republic presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the German language novelist. The prize is co-sponsored by the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prague The prize is not related to the similarly named Janet Heidiger Kafka Prize given out by the University of Rochester in the United States. Each award is often called the "Kafka Prize" or "Kafka Award".
Answered by im back - Thu Dec 4 10:04:35 2008

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