Birth anniversary of Franz Kafka, one of the best-known German-language authors in the world

New Delhi ( The Indian View team) : Born in prague in 1883, Franz Kafka belonged to the  German speaking Jewish minority, which made him somewhat of an outsider to begin with. Franz Kafka is famous for exploring themes of isolation, absurdity, and oppressive bureaucracy in modern life. His nightmarish stories, like The Metamorphosis and The Trial, are so universally relatable that the term “Kafkaesque” was coined to describe situations that are senseless, bizarre, and out of our control.

He also felt little acceptance from his family and suffered throughout his life at the hands of his father in particular, who would have preferred his son to be a businessman rather than a writer. 

Unable to make a living from writing alone, kafka worked from morning to noon as an insurance clerk and then devoted himself to the things that gave him pleasure. He rode a motorcycle, went to the movies and visited brothels.

He was sporty, went on city trips to Paris and Berlin, and enjoyed being around people. But he didn’t get on so well with women, which was partly due to social expectations. How much closeness was acceptable if one had serious intentions? Kafka was uncertain.

Famous thanks to a close friend

Kafka wrote in the evenings and at night: diaries, short stories and novels. His best friend, Max Brod, whom he had met while studying law, recognized Kafka’s literary talent and encouraged him to publish his work. But Kafka doubted his writing abilities. In 1924, he died of laryngeal tuberculosis only a few weeks before his 41st birthday. He had previously instructed his friend to burn all his writings after his death.

But fortunately for posterity, Max Brod did not comply with this wish, otherwise works such as The Trial would never have been published. Today, the unfinished novel is one of Kafka’s best-known works. It is about a man who becomes a defendant but never finds out what he is accused of having done. And, as usual with Kafka, this story does not end well.

On Books & Reading: quotes

“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”

“Some books seem like a key to unfamiliar rooms in one’s own castle.”

On Life & The Absurd

“I am free and that is why I am lost.””

Paths are made by walking.””

Anybody who preserves the ability to recognize beauty will never get old.”

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen.

“On Love & Relationships”

Love is that you are the knife with which I dig within myself.””

There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.”