Английская Википедия:Franz Kafka

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Redirect Шаблон:Pp-pc Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox person Franz KafkaШаблон:Efn (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic.[1] It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity.[2] His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka was born into a middle-class German-speaking Czech Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today the capital of the Czech Republic).[3] He trained as a lawyer, and after completing his legal education was employed full-time by an insurance company, forcing him to relegate writing to his spare time. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formal relationship. He became engaged to several women but never married. He died in obscurity in 1924 at the age of 40 from tuberculosis.

Kafka was a prolific writer, spending most of his free time writing, often late in the night. He burned an estimated 90 per cent of his total work due to his persistent struggles with self-doubt. Much of the remaining 10 per cent is lost or otherwise unpublished. Few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime: the story collections Contemplation and A Country Doctor, and individual stories (such as his novella The Metamorphosis) were published in literary magazines but received little public attention.

In his will, Kafka instructed his close friend and literary executor Max Brod to destroy his unfinished works, including his novels The Trial, The Castle, and Шаблон:Lang, but Brod ignored these instructions and had much of his work published. Kafka's writings became famous in German-speaking countries after World War II, influencing their literature, and its influence spread elsewhere in the world in the 1960s. It has also influenced artists, composers, and philosophers.

Life

Early life

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Franz Kafka's sisters as children, from the left Valli, Elli, Ottla

Kafka was born near the Old Town Square in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family were German-speaking middle-class Ashkenazi Jews. His father, Hermann Kafka (1854–1931), was the fourth child of Jakob Kafka,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn a Шаблон:Lang or ritual slaughterer in Osek, a Czech village with a large Jewish population located near Strakonice in southern Bohemia.Шаблон:Sfn Hermann brought the Kafka family to Prague. After working as a travelling sales representative, he eventually became a fashion retailer who employed up to 15 people and used the image of a jackdaw (Шаблон:Lang in Czech, pronounced and colloquially written as kafka) as his business logo.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka's mother, Julie (1856–1934), was the daughter of Jakob Löwy, a prosperous retail merchant in Poděbrady,Шаблон:Sfn and was better educated than her husband.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka's parents probably spoke a German influenced by Yiddish that was sometimes pejoratively called Mauscheldeutsch, but, as German was considered the vehicle of social mobility, they probably encouraged their children to speak Standard German.Шаблон:Sfn Hermann and Julie had six children, of whom Franz was the eldest.Шаблон:Sfn Franz's two brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died in infancy before Franz was seven; his three sisters were Gabriele ("Elli") (1889–1942), Valerie ("Valli") (1890–1942) and Ottilie ("Ottla") (1892–1943). All three were murdered in the Holocaust of World War II. Valli was deported to the Łódź Ghetto in occupied Poland in 1942, but that is the last documentation of her; it is assumed she did not survive the war. Ottilie was Kafka's favourite sister.[4]

Hermann is described by the biographer Stanley Corngold as a "huge, selfish, overbearing businessman"Шаблон:Sfn and by Franz Kafka 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".Шаблон:Sfn On business days, both parents were absent from the home, with Julie Kafka working as many as 12 hours each day helping to manage the family business. Consequently, Kafka's childhood was somewhat lonely,Шаблон:Sfn and the children were reared largely by a series of governesses and servants. Kafka's troubled relationship with his father is evident in his Шаблон:Lang (Letter to His Father) of more than 100 pages, in which he complains of being profoundly affected by his father's authoritarian and demanding character;Шаблон:Sfn his mother, in contrast, was quiet and shy.Шаблон:Sfn The dominating figure of Kafka's father had a significant influence on Kafka's writing.Шаблон:Sfn

The Kafka family had a servant girl living with them in a cramped apartment. Franz's room was often cold. In November 1913 the family moved into a bigger apartment, although Ellie and Valli had married and moved out of the first apartment. In early August 1914, just after World War I began, the sisters did not know where their husbands were in the military and moved back in with the family in this larger apartment. Both Ellie and Valli also had children. Franz at age 31 moved into Valli's former apartment, quiet by contrast, and lived by himself for the first time.Шаблон:Sfn

Education

From 1889 to 1893, Kafka attended the Шаблон:Lang German boys' elementary school at the Шаблон:Lang (meat market), now known as Masná Street. His Jewish education ended with his bar mitzvah celebration at the age of 13. Kafka never enjoyed attending the synagogue and went with his father only on four high holidays a year.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

An ornate four-storey palatial building
Kinský Palace where Kafka attended gymnasium and his father owned a shop

After leaving elementary school in 1893, Kafka was admitted to the rigorous classics-oriented state gymnasium, Шаблон:Lang, an academic secondary school at Old Town Square, within the Kinský Palace. German was the language of instruction, but Kafka also spoke and wrote in Czech.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He studied the latter at the gymnasium for eight years, achieving good grades.Шаблон:Sfn Although Kafka received compliments for his Czech, he never considered himself fluent in the language, though he spoke German with a Czech accent.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He completed his Matura exams in 1901.Шаблон:Sfn

Admitted to the Шаблон:Lang of Prague in 1901, Kafka began studying chemistry but switched to law after two weeks.Шаблон:Sfn Although this field did not excite him, it offered a range of career possibilities which pleased his father. In addition, law required a longer course of study, giving Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history.Шаблон:Sfn He also joined a student club, Шаблон:Lang (Reading and Lecture Hall of the German students), which organised literary events, readings and other activities.Шаблон:Sfn Among Kafka's friends were the journalist Felix Weltsch, who studied philosophy, the actor Yitzchak Lowy who came from an orthodox Hasidic Warsaw family, and the writers Ludwig Winder, Oskar Baum and Franz Werfel.Шаблон:Sfn

At the end of his first year of studies, Kafka met Max Brod, a fellow law student who became a close friend for life.Шаблон:Sfn Years later, Brod coined the term Шаблон:Lang ("The Close Prague Circle") to describe the group of writers, which included Kafka, Felix Weltsch and Brod himself.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Brod soon noticed that, although Kafka was shy and seldom spoke, what he said was usually profound.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka was an avid reader throughout his life;Шаблон:Sfn together he and Brod read Plato's Protagoras in the original Greek, on Brod's initiative, and Flaubert's Шаблон:Lang and Шаблон:Lang (The Temptation of Saint Anthony) in French, at his own suggestion.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka considered Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gustav Flaubert, Nikolai Gogol, Franz Grillparzer,Шаблон:Sfn and Heinrich von Kleist to be his "true blood brothers".Шаблон:Sfn Besides these, he took an interest in Czech literatureШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and was also very fond of the works of Goethe.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Kafka was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June 1906Шаблон:Efn and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.Шаблон:Sfn

Employment

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Former home of the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute

On 1 November 1907, Kafka was employed at the Шаблон:Lang, an insurance company, where he worked for nearly a year. His correspondence during that period indicates that he was unhappy with a work schedule—from 08:00 until 18:00Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn—that made it extremely difficult to concentrate on writing, which was assuming increasing importance to him. On 15 July 1908, he resigned. Two weeks later, he found employment more amenable to writing when he joined the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. The job involved investigating and assessing compensation for personal injury to industrial workers; accidents such as lost fingers or limbs were commonplace, owing to poor work safety policies at the time. It was especially true of factories fitted with machine lathes, drills, planing machines and rotary saws, which were rarely fitted with safety guards.Шаблон:Sfn

His father often referred to his son's job as an insurance officer as a Шаблон:Lang, literally "bread job", a job done only to pay the bills; Kafka often claimed to despise it. Kafka was rapidly promoted and his duties included processing and investigating compensation claims, writing reports, and handling appeals from businessmen who thought their firms had been placed in too high a risk category, which cost them more in insurance premiums.Шаблон:Sfn He would compile and compose the annual report on the insurance institute for the several years he worked there. The reports were well received by his superiors.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka usually got off work at 2 p.m., so that he had time to spend on his literary work, to which he was committed.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka's father also expected him to help out at and take over the family fancy goods store.Шаблон:Sfn In his later years, Kafka's illness often prevented him from working at the insurance bureau and at his writing.

In late 1911, Elli's husband Karl Hermann and Kafka became partners in the first asbestos factory in Prague, known as Prager Asbestwerke Hermann & Co., having used dowry money from Hermann Kafka. Kafka showed a positive attitude at first, dedicating much of his free time to the business, but he later resented the encroachment of this work on his writing time.Шаблон:Sfn During that period, he also found interest and entertainment in the performances of Yiddish theatre. After seeing a Yiddish theatre troupe perform in October 1911, for the next six months Kafka "immersed himself in Yiddish language and in Yiddish literature".Шаблон:Sfn This interest also served as a starting point for his growing exploration of Judaism.Шаблон:Sfn It was at about this time that Kafka became a vegetarian.Шаблон:Sfn Around 1915, Kafka received his draft notice for military service in World WarШаблон:NbspI, but his employers at the insurance institute arranged for a deferment because his work was considered essential government service. He later attempted to join the military but was prevented from doing so by medical problems associated with tuberculosis,Шаблон:Sfn with which he was diagnosed in 1917.Шаблон:Sfn In 1918, the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute put Kafka on a pension due to his illness, for which there was no cure at the time, and he spent most of the rest of his life in sanatoriums.Шаблон:Sfn

Private life

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Felice Bauer and Franz Kafka

Kafka never married. According to Brod, Kafka was "tortured" by sexual desire,Шаблон:Sfn and Kafka's biographer Reiner Stach states that his life was full of "incessant womanising" and that he was filled with a fear of "sexual failure".Шаблон:Sfn Kafka visited brothels for most of his adult lifeШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and was interested in pornography.Шаблон:Sfn In addition, he had close relationships with several women during his lifetime. On 13 August 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, a relative of Brod's, who worked in Berlin as a representative of a dictaphone company. A week after the meeting at Brod's home, Kafka wrote in his diary:

Шаблон:Blockquote

Shortly after this meeting, Kafka wrote the story "Шаблон:Lang" ("The Judgment") in only one night and in a productive period worked on Шаблон:Lang (The Man Who Disappeared) and Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis). Kafka and Felice Bauer communicated mostly through letters over the next five years, met occasionally, and were engaged twice.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka's extant letters to Bauer were published as Шаблон:Lang (Letters to Felice); her letters do not survive.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn After he had written to Bauer's father asking to marry her, Kafka wrote in his diary:

Шаблон:Blockquote

According to the biographers Stach and James Hawes, Kafka became engaged a third time around 1920, to Julie Wohryzek, a poor and uneducated hotel chambermaid.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Kafka's father objected to Julie because of her Zionist beliefs. Although Kafka and Julie rented a flat and set a wedding date, the marriage never took place. During this time, Kafka began a draft of Letter to His Father. Before the date of the intended marriage, he took up with yet another woman.Шаблон:Sfn While he needed women and sex in his life, he had low self-confidence, felt sex was dirty, and was cripplingly shy—especially about his body.Шаблон:Sfn

Stach and Brod state that during the time that Kafka knew Felice Bauer, he had an affair with a friend of hers, Margarethe "Grete" Bloch,Шаблон:Sfn a Jewish woman from Berlin. Brod says that Bloch gave birth to Kafka's son, although Kafka never knew about the child. The boy, whose name is not known, was born in 1914 or 1915 and died in Munich in 1921.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn However, Kafka's biographer Peter-André Alt says that, while Bloch had a son, Kafka was not the father, as the pair were never intimate.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Stach points out that there is a great deal of contradictory evidence around the claim that Kafka was the father.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka was diagnosed with tuberculosis in August 1917 and moved for a few months to the Bohemian village of Zürau (Siřem in Czech), where his sister Ottla worked on the farm of her brother-in-law Karl Hermann. He felt comfortable there and later described this time as perhaps the best period of his life, probably because he had no responsibilities. He kept diaries and Шаблон:Lang (octavo). From the notes in these books, Kafka extracted 109 numbered pieces of text on Zettel, single pieces of paper in no given order. They were later published as Шаблон:Lang (The Zürau Aphorisms or Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way).Шаблон:Sfn

In 1920, Kafka began an intense relationship with Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist and writer who was non-Jewish and who was married, but when she met Kafka, her marriage was a "sham".[5] His letters to her were later published as Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn During a vacation in July 1923 to Graal-Müritz on the Baltic Sea, Kafka met Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher from an orthodox Jewish family. Kafka, hoping to escape the influence of his family to concentrate on his writing, moved briefly to Berlin (September 1923-March 1924) and lived with Diamant. She became his lover and sparked his interest in the Talmud.Шаблон:Sfn He worked on four stories, including Шаблон:Lang (A Hunger Artist),Шаблон:Sfn which were published shortly after his death.

Personality

Kafka had a lifelong suspicion that people found him mentally and physically repulsive. However, many of those who met him found him to possess obvious intelligence and a sense of humour; they also found him handsome, although of austere appearance.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Brod compared Kafka to Heinrich von Kleist, noting that both writers had the ability to describe a situation realistically with precise details.Шаблон:Sfn Brod thought Kafka was one of the most entertaining people he had met; Kafka enjoyed sharing humour with his friends, but also helped them in difficult situations with good advice.Шаблон:Sfn According to Brod, he was a passionate reciter, able to phrase his speech as though it were music.Шаблон:Sfn Brod felt that two of Kafka's most distinguishing traits were "absolute truthfulness" (Шаблон:Lang) and "precise conscientiousness" (Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He explored details, the inconspicuous, in depth and with such love and precision that things surfaced that were unforeseen, seemingly strange, but absolutely true (Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn

Although Kafka showed little interest in exercise as a child, he later developed a passion for games and physical activity,Шаблон:Sfn and was an accomplished rider, swimmer, and rower.Шаблон:Sfn On weekends, he and his friends embarked on long hikes, often planned by Kafka himself.Шаблон:Sfn His other interests included alternative medicine, modern education systems such as Montessori,Шаблон:Sfn and technological novelties such as airplanes and film.Шаблон:Sfn Writing was vitally important to Kafka; he considered it a "form of prayer".Шаблон:Sfn He was highly sensitive to noise and preferred absolute quiet when writing.Шаблон:Sfn

Pérez-Álvarez has claimed that Kafka had symptomatology consistent with schizoid personality disorder.Шаблон:Sfn His style, it is claimed, not only in Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) but in other writings, appears to show low- to medium-level schizoid traits, which Pérez-Álvarez claims to have influenced much of his work.Шаблон:Sfn His anguish can be seen in this diary entry from 21 June 1913:Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Blockquote

Шаблон:Blockquote

and in Zürau Aphorism number 50:

Шаблон:Blockquote

Alessia Coralli and Antonio Perciaccante of San Giovanni di Dio Hospital have posited that Kafka may have had borderline personality disorder with co-occurring psychophysiological insomnia.[6] Joan Lachkar interpreted Die Verwandlung as "a vivid depiction of the borderline personality" and described the story as "model for Kafka's own abandonment fears, anxiety, depression, and parasitic dependency needs. Kafka illuminated the borderline's general confusion of normal and healthy desires, wishes, and needs with something ugly and disdainful."Шаблон:Sfn

Though Kafka never married, he held marriage and children in high esteem. He had several girlfriends and lovers across his life.Шаблон:Sfn He may have suffered from an eating disorder. Doctor Manfred M. Fichter of the Psychiatric Clinic, University of Munich, presented "evidence for the hypothesis that the writer Franz Kafka had suffered from an atypical anorexia nervosa",Шаблон:Sfn and that Kafka was not just lonely and depressed but also "occasionally suicidal".Шаблон:Sfn In his 1995 book Franz Kafka, the Jewish Patient, Sander Gilman investigated "why a Jew might have been considered 'hypochondriacal' or 'homosexual' and how Kafka incorporates aspects of these ways of understanding the Jewish male into his own self-image and writing".Шаблон:Sfn Kafka considered suicide at least once, in late 1912.Шаблон:Sfn

Political views

Before World War I,Шаблон:Sfn Kafka attended several meetings of the Klub mladých, a Czech anarchist, anti-militarist, and anti-clerical organization.Шаблон:Sfn Hugo Bergmann, who attended the same elementary and high schools as Kafka, fell out with Kafka during their last academic year (1900–1901) because "[Kafka's] socialism and my Zionism were much too strident".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Bergmann said: "Franz became a socialist, I became a Zionist in 1898. The synthesis of Zionism and socialism did not yet exist."Шаблон:Sfn Bergmann claims that Kafka wore a red carnation to school to show his support for socialism.Шаблон:Sfn In one diary entry, Kafka made reference to the influential anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin: "Don't forget Kropotkin!"Шаблон:Sfn

During the communist era, the legacy of Kafka's work for Eastern Bloc socialism was hotly debated. Opinions ranged from the notion that he satirised the bureaucratic bungling of a crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the belief that he embodied the rise of socialism.Шаблон:Sfn A further key point was Marx's theory of alienation. While the orthodox position was that Kafka's depictions of alienation were no longer relevant for a society that had supposedly eliminated alienation, a 1963 conference held in Liblice, Czechoslovakia, on the eightieth anniversary of his birth, reassessed the importance of Kafka's portrayal of bureaucracy.Шаблон:Sfn Whether or not Kafka was a political writer is still an issue of debate.Шаблон:Sfn

Judaism and Zionism

Шаблон:Further

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Kafka in 1910

Kafka grew up in Prague as a German-speaking Jew.Шаблон:Sfn He was deeply fascinated by the Jews of Eastern Europe, who he thought possessed an intensity of spiritual life that was absent from Jews in the West. His diary contains many references to Yiddish writers.Шаблон:Sfn Yet he was at times alienated from Judaism and Jewish life. On 8 January 1914, he wrote in his diary:Шаблон:Blockquote

In his adolescent years, Kafka declared himself an atheist.Шаблон:Sfn

Hawes suggests that Kafka, though very aware of his own Jewishness, did not incorporate it into his work, which, according to Hawes, lacks Jewish characters, scenes or themes.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In the opinion of literary critic Harold Bloom, although Kafka was uneasy with his Jewish heritage, he was the quintessential Jewish writer.Шаблон:Sfn Lothar Kahn is likewise unequivocal: "The presence of Jewishness in Kafka's Шаблон:Lang is no longer subject to doubt".Шаблон:Sfn Pavel Eisner, one of Kafka's first translators, interprets Шаблон:Lang (The Trial) as the embodiment of the "triple dimension of Jewish existence in PragueШаблон:Nbsp... 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".Шаблон:Sfn

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."Шаблон:Sfn Kafka considered moving to Palestine with Felice Bauer, and later with Dora Diamant. He studied Hebrew while living in Berlin, hiring a friend of Brod's from Palestine, Pua Bat-Tovim, to tutor himШаблон:Sfn and attending Rabbi Julius Grünthal[7] and Rabbi Julius Guttmann's classes in the Berlin Шаблон:Lang (College for the Study of Judaism),Шаблон:Sfn where he also studied Talmud.[8]

Livia Rothkirchen calls Kafka the "symbolic figure of his era".Шаблон:Sfn His contemporaries included numerous Jewish, Czech, and German writers who were sensitive to Jewish, Czech, and German 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".Шаблон:Sfn

Towards the end of his life Kafka sent a postcard to his friend Hugo Bergmann in Tel Aviv, announcing his intention to emigrate to Palestine. Bergmann refused to host Kafka because he had young children and was afraid that Kafka would infect them with tuberculosis.Шаблон:Sfn

Death

A tapering six-sided stone structure lists the names of three deceased persons: Franz, Hermann, and Julie Kafka. Each name has a passage in Hebrew below it.
Franz Kafka's grave in Prague-Žižkov designed by Leopold Ehrmann

Kafka's laryngeal tuberculosis worsened and in March 1924 he returned from Berlin to Prague,Шаблон:Sfn where members of his family, principally his sister Ottla and Dora Diamant, took care of him. He went to Hugo Hoffmann's sanatorium in Kierling just outside Vienna for treatment on 10 April,Шаблон:Sfn and died there on 3 June 1924. The cause of death seemed to be starvation: the condition of Kafka's throat made eating too painful for him, and since parenteral nutrition had not yet been developed, there was no way to feed him.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Kafka was editing "A Hunger Artist" on his deathbed, a story whose composition he had begun before his throat closed to the point that he could not take any nourishment.Шаблон:Sfn His body was brought back to Prague where he was buried on 11 June 1924, in the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague-Žižkov.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka was virtually unknown during his own lifetime, but he did not consider fame important. He rose to fame rapidly after his death,Шаблон:Sfn particularly after World War II. The Kafka tombstone was designed by architect Leopold Ehrmann.[9] Шаблон:Clear left

Works

Шаблон:Further

an old letter with text written in German
First page of Kafka's Letter to His Father

All of Kafka's published works, except some letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German. What little was published during his lifetime attracted scant public attention.

Kafka finished none of his full-length novels and burned around 90 percent of his work,[10]Шаблон:Sfn much of it during the period he lived in Berlin with Diamant, who helped him burn the drafts.Шаблон:Sfn In his early years as a writer he was influenced by von Kleist, whose work he described in a letter to Bauer as frightening and whom he considered closer than his own family.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka drew and sketched extensively. Until May 2021, only about 40 of his drawings were known.[11][12] In 2022, Yale University Press published Franz Kafka: The Drawings.[13]

Stories

Kafka's earliest published works were eight stories that appeared in 1908 in the first issue of the literary journal Hyperion under the title Шаблон:Lang (Contemplation). He wrote the story "Шаблон:Lang" ("Description of a Struggle")Шаблон:Efn in 1904; he showed it to Brod in 1905 who advised him to continue writing and convinced him to submit it to Hyperion. Kafka published a fragment in 1908Шаблон:Sfn and two sections in the spring of 1909, all in Munich.Шаблон:Sfn

In a creative outburst on the night of 22 September 1912, Kafka wrote the story "Das Urteil" ("The Judgment", literally: "The Verdict") and dedicated it to Felice Bauer. Brod noted the similarity in names of the main character and his fictional fiancée, Georg Bendemann and Frieda Brandenfeld, to Franz Kafka and Felice Bauer.Шаблон:Sfn The story is often considered Kafka's breakthrough work. It deals with the troubled relationship of a son and his dominant father, facing a new situation after the son's engagement.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Kafka later described writing it as "a complete opening of body and soul",Шаблон:Sfn a story that "evolved as a true birth, covered with filth and slime".Шаблон:Sfn The story was first published in Leipzig in 1912 and dedicated "to Miss Felice Bauer", and in subsequent editions "for F."Шаблон:Sfn

In 1912, Kafka wrote Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis, or The Transformation),Шаблон:Sfn published in 1915 in Leipzig. The story begins with a travelling salesman waking to find himself transformed into an Шаблон:Lang, a monstrous vermin, Шаблон:Lang being a general term for unwanted and unclean pests, especially insects. Critics regard the work as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The story "In der Strafkolonie" ("In the Penal Colony"), dealing with an elaborate torture and execution device, was written in October 1914,Шаблон:Sfn revised in 1918, and published in Leipzig during October 1919. The story "Ein Hungerkünstler" ("A Hunger Artist"), published in the periodical Шаблон:Lang in 1924, describes a victimized protagonist who experiences a decline in the appreciation of his strange craft of starving himself for extended periods.Шаблон:Sfn His last story, "Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse" ("Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk"), also deals with the relationship between an artist and his audience.Шаблон:Sfn

Franz Kafka Notebook with words in German and Hebrew. from the Collection of the National Library of Israel.
Franz Kafka notebook with words in German and Hebrew. From the Collection of the National Library of Israel.

Novels

Kafka began his first novel in 1912;Шаблон:Sfn its first chapter is the story "Der Heizer" ("The Stoker"). He called the work, which remained unfinished, Шаблон:Lang (The Man Who Disappeared or The Missing Person), but when Brod published it after Kafka's death he named it Amerika.Шаблон:Sfn The inspiration for the novel was the time Kafka spent in the audience of Yiddish theatre the previous year, bringing him to a new awareness of his heritage, which led to the thought that an innate appreciation for one's heritage lives deep within each person.Шаблон:Sfn More explicitly humorous and slightly more realistic than most of Kafka's works, the novel shares the motif of an oppressive and intangible system putting the protagonist repeatedly in bizarre situations.Шаблон:Sfn It uses many details of experiences from his relatives who had emigrated to AmericaШаблон:Sfn and is the only work for which Kafka considered an optimistic ending.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1914 Kafka began the novel Шаблон:Lang (The Trial),Шаблон:Sfn the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the reader. He did not complete the novel, although he finished the final chapter. According to Nobel Prize winner and Kafka scholar Elias Canetti, Felice is central to the plot of Der Process and Kafka said it was "her story".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Canetti titled his book on Kafka's letters to Felice Kafka's Other Trial, in recognition of the relationship between the letters and the novel.Шаблон:Sfn Michiko Kakutani notes in a review for The New York Times that Kafka's letters have the "earmarks of his fiction: the same nervous attention to minute particulars; the same paranoid awareness of shifting balances of power; the same atmosphere of emotional suffocation—combined, surprisingly enough, with moments of boyish ardour and delight."Шаблон:Sfn

According to his diary, Kafka was already planning his novel Шаблон:Lang (The Castle), by 11 June 1914; however, he did not begin writing it until 27 January 1922.Шаблон:Sfn The protagonist is the Шаблон:Lang (land surveyor) named K., who struggles for unknown reasons to gain access to the mysterious authorities of a castle who govern the village. Kafka's intent was that the castle's authorities notify K. on his deathbed that his "legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was to be permitted to live and work there".Шаблон:Sfn Dark and at times surreal, the novel is focused on alienation, bureaucracy, the seemingly endless frustrations of man's attempts to stand against the system, and the futile and hopeless pursuit of an unattainable goal. Hartmut M. Rastalsky noted in his thesis: "Like dreams, his texts combine precise 'realistic' detail with absurdity, careful observation and reasoning on the part of the protagonists with inexplicable obliviousness and carelessness."Шаблон:Sfn

Publishing history

A simple book cover displays the name of the book and the author
First edition of Шаблон:Lang, 1912

Kafka's stories were initially published in literary periodicals. His first eight were printed in 1908 in the first issue of the bi-monthly Hyperion.Шаблон:Sfn Franz Blei published two dialogues in 1909 which became part of "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" ("Description of a Struggle").Шаблон:Sfn A fragment of the story "Die Aeroplane in Brescia" ("The Aeroplanes at Brescia"), written on a trip to Italy with Brod, appeared in the daily Bohemia on 28 September 1909.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn On 27 March 1910, several stories that later became part of the book Шаблон:Lang were published in the Easter edition of Bohemia.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In Leipzig during 1913, Brod and publisher Kurt Wolff included "Шаблон:Lang" ("The Judgment. A Story by Franz Kafka.") in their literary yearbook for the art poetry Arkadia. In the same year, Wolff published "Der Heizer" ("The Stoker") in the Jüngste Tag series, where it enjoyed three printings.Шаблон:Sfn The story "Шаблон:Lang" ("Before the Law") was published in the 1915 New Year's edition of the independent Jewish weekly Шаблон:Lang; it was reprinted in 1919 as part of the story collection Шаблон:Lang (A Country Doctor) and became part of the novel Шаблон:Lang. Other stories were published in various publications, including Martin Buber's Der Jude, the paper Шаблон:Lang, and the periodicals Шаблон:Lang, Genius, and Prager Presse.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka's first published book, Шаблон:Lang (Contemplation, or Meditation), was a collection of 18Шаблон:Nbspstories written between 1904 and 1912. On a summer trip to Weimar, Brod initiated a meeting between Kafka and Kurt Wolff;Шаблон:Sfn Wolff published Шаблон:Lang in the Шаблон:Lang at the end of 1912 (with the year given as 1913).Шаблон:Sfn Kafka dedicated it to Brod, "Шаблон:Lang", and added in the personal copy given to his friend "Шаблон:Lang" ("As it is already printed here, for my dearest Max").Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka's novella Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) was first printed in the October 1915 issue of Шаблон:Lang, a monthly edition of expressionist literature, edited by René Schickele.Шаблон:Sfn Another story collection, Шаблон:Lang (A Country Doctor), was published by Kurt Wolff in 1919,Шаблон:Sfn dedicated to Kafka's father.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka prepared a final collection of four stories for print, Шаблон:Lang (A Hunger Artist), which appeared in 1924 after his death, in Шаблон:Lang. On 20 April 1924, the Шаблон:Lang published Kafka's essay on Adalbert Stifter.Шаблон:Sfn

Max Brod

A simple book cover in green displays the name of the author and the book
First edition of Шаблон:Lang, 1925

Kafka left his work, both published and unpublished, to his friend and literary executor Max Brod with explicit instructions that it should be destroyed on Kafka's death; Kafka wrote: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind meШаблон:Nbsp... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread."Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Brod ignored this request and published the novels and collected works between 1925 and 1935. Brod defended his action by claiming that he had told Kafka, "I shall not carry out your wishes", and that "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely determined that his instructions should stand".[14]

Brod took many of Kafka's papers, which remain unpublished, with him in suitcases to Palestine when he fled there in 1939.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka's last lover, Dora Diamant (later, Dymant-Lask), also ignored his wishes, secretly keeping 20Шаблон:Nbspnotebooks and 35Шаблон:Nbspletters. These were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933, but scholars continue to search for them.Шаблон:Sfn

As Brod published the bulk of the writings in his possession,Шаблон:Sfn Kafka's work began to attract wider attention and critical acclaim. Brod found it difficult to arrange Kafka's notebooks in chronological order. One problem was that Kafka often began writing in different parts of the book; sometimes in the middle, sometimes working backwards from the end.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Brod finished many of Kafka's incomplete works for publication. For example, Kafka left Шаблон:Lang with unnumbered and incomplete chapters and Шаблон:Lang with incomplete sentences and ambiguous content;Шаблон:Sfn Brod rearranged chapters, copy-edited the text, and changed the punctuation. Шаблон:Lang appeared in 1925 in Шаблон:Lang. Kurt Wolff published two other novels, Шаблон:Lang in 1926 and Amerika in 1927. In 1931, Brod edited a collection of prose and unpublished stories as Шаблон:Lang (The Great Wall of China), including the story of the same name. The book appeared in the Шаблон:Lang. Brod's sets are usually called the "Definitive Editions".Шаблон:Sfn

Modern editions

In 1961 Malcolm Pasley acquired for the Oxford Bodleian Library most of Kafka's original handwritten works.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The text for Шаблон:Lang was later purchased through auction and is stored at the German Literary Archives in Marbach am Neckar, Germany.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Subsequently, Pasley headed a team (including Gerhard Neumann, Jost Schillemeit and Jürgen Born) which reconstructed the German novels; Шаблон:Lang republished them.Шаблон:Sfn Pasley was the editor for Шаблон:Lang, published in 1982, and Шаблон:Lang (The Trial), published in 1990. Jost Schillemeit was the editor of Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang) published in 1983. These are called the "Critical Editions" or the "Fischer Editions".Шаблон:Sfn

In 2023, the first unexpurgated edition of Kafka's diaries was published in English,[15] "more than three decades after this complete text appeared in German. The sole previous English edition, with Brod’s edits, was issued in the late 1940s".[16]

Unpublished papers

When Brod died in 1968, he left Kafka's unpublished papers, which are believed to number in the thousands, to his secretary Esther Hoffe.Шаблон:Sfn She released or sold some, but left most to her daughters, Eva and Ruth, who also refused to release the papers. A court battle began in 2008 between the sisters and the National Library of Israel, which claimed these works became the property of the nation of Israel when Brod emigrated to British Palestine in 1939. Esther Hoffe sold the original manuscript of Шаблон:Lang for US$2 million in 1988 to the German Literary Archive Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach am Neckar.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn A ruling by a Tel Aviv family court in 2010 held that the papers must be released and a few were, including a previously unknown story, but the legal battle continued.Шаблон:Sfn The Hoffes claim the papers are their personal property, while the National Library of Israel argues they are "cultural assets belonging to the Jewish people".Шаблон:Sfn The National Library also suggests that Brod bequeathed the papers to them in his will.Шаблон:Sfn The Tel Aviv Family Court ruled in October 2012, six months after Ruth's death, that the papers were the property of the National Library. The Israeli Supreme Court upheld the decision in December 2016.Шаблон:Sfn

Critical response

Critical interpretations

The poet W. H. Auden called Kafka "the Dante of the twentieth century";Шаблон:Sfn the novelist Vladimir Nabokov placed him among the greatest writers of the 20th century.Шаблон:Sfn Gabriel García Márquez noted the reading of Kafka's The Metamorphosis showed him "that it was possible to write in a different way".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn A prominent theme of Kafka's work, first established in the short story "Das Urteil",Шаблон:Sfn is father–son conflict: the guilt induced in the son is resolved through suffering and atonement.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Other prominent themes and archetypes include alienation, physical and psychological brutality, characters on a terrifying quest, and mystical transformation.Шаблон:Sfn

Kafka's style has been compared to that of Kleist as early as 1916, in a review of "Die Verwandlung" and "Der Heizer" by Oscar Walzel in Berliner Beiträge.Шаблон:Sfn The nature of Kafka's prose allows for varied interpretations and critics have placed his writing into a variety of literary schools.Шаблон:Sfn Marxists, for example, have sharply disagreed over how to interpret Kafka's works.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Some accused him of distorting reality whereas others claimed he was critiquing capitalism.Шаблон:Sfn The hopelessness and absurdity common to his works are seen as emblematic of existentialism.Шаблон:Sfn Some of Kafka's books are influenced by the expressionist movement, though the majority of his literary output was associated with the experimental modernist genre. Kafka also touches on the theme of human conflict with bureaucracy. William Burrows claims that such work is centred on the concepts of struggle, pain, solitude, and the need for relationships.Шаблон:Sfn Others, such as Thomas Mann, see Kafka's work as allegorical: a quest, metaphysical in nature, for God.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the themes of alienation and persecution, although present in Kafka's work, have been overemphasised by critics. They argue that Kafka's work is more deliberate and subversive—and more joyful—than may first appear. They point out that reading Kafka while focusing on the futility of his characters' struggles reveals Kafka's humour; he is not necessarily commenting on his own problems, but rather pointing out how people tend to invent problems. In his work, Kafka often creates malevolent, absurd worlds.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Kafka read drafts of his works to his friends, typically concentrating on his humorous prose. The writer Milan Kundera suggests that Kafka's surrealist humour may have been an inversion of Dostoyevsky's presentation of characters who are punished for a crime. In Kafka's work, a character is punished although a crime has not been committed. Kundera believes that Kafka's inspirations for his characteristic situations came both from growing up in a patriarchal family and from living in a totalitarian state.Шаблон:Sfn

Attempts have been made to identify the influence of Kafka's legal background and the role of law in his fiction.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Most interpretations identify aspects of law and legality as important in his work,Шаблон:Sfn in which the legal system is often oppressive.Шаблон:Sfn The law in Kafka's works, rather than being representative of any particular legal or political entity, is usually interpreted to represent a collection of anonymous, incomprehensible forces. These are hidden from the individual but control the lives of the people, who are innocent victims of systems beyond their control.Шаблон:Sfn Critics who support this absurdist interpretation cite instances where Kafka describes himself in conflict with an absurd universe, such as the following entry from his diary:

Шаблон:Blockquote

However, James Hawes argues many of Kafka's descriptions of the legal proceedings in Шаблон:Lang—metaphysical, absurd, bewildering and nightmarish as they might appear—are based on accurate and informed descriptions of German and Austrian criminal proceedings of the time, which were inquisitorial rather than adversarial.Шаблон:Sfn Although he worked in insurance, as a trained lawyer Kafka was "keenly aware of the legal debates of his day".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In an early 21st-century publication that uses Kafka's office writings as its point of departure,Шаблон:Sfn Pothik Ghosh states that with Kafka, law "has no meaning outside its fact of being a pure force of domination and determination".Шаблон:Sfn

Translations

The first instance of Kafka being translated into English was in 1925, when William A. Drake published "A Report for an Academy" in The New York Herald Tribune.[17] Eugene Jolas translated Kafka's "The Judgment" for the modernist journal transition in 1928.[18] In 1930, Edwin and Willa Muir translated the first German edition of Шаблон:Lang. This was published as The Castle by Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.Шаблон:Sfn A 1941 edition, including a homage by Thomas Mann, spurred a surge in Kafka's popularity in the United States during the late 1940s.Шаблон:Sfn The Muirs translated all shorter works that Kafka had seen fit to print; they were published by Schocken Books in 1948 as The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces,Шаблон:Sfn including additionally The First Long Train Journey, written by Kafka and Brod, Kafka's "A Novel about Youth", a review of Felix Sternheim's Die Geschichte des jungen Oswald, his essay on Kleist's "Anecdotes", his review of the literary magazine Hyperion, and an epilogue by Brod.

Later editions, notably those of 1954 (Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings), included text, translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser,Шаблон:Sfn that had been deleted by earlier publishers.Шаблон:Sfn Known as "Definitive Editions", they include translations of The Trial, Definitive, The Castle, Definitive, and other writings. These translations are generally accepted to have a number of biases and are considered to be dated in interpretation.Шаблон:Sfn Published in 1961 by Schocken Books, Parables and Paradoxes presented in a bilingual edition by Nahum N. Glatzer selected writings,Шаблон:Sfn drawn from notebooks, diaries, letters, short fictional works and the novel Der Process.

New translations were completed and published based on the recompiled German text of Pasley and SchillemeitШаблон:NsmdnsThe Castle, Critical by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 1998),Шаблон:Sfn The Trial, Critical by Breon Mitchell (Schocken Books, 1998),Шаблон:Sfn and The Man Who Disappeared (Amerika) by Michael Hofmann (Penguin Books, 1996)Шаблон:Sfn and Amerika: The Missing Person by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 2008).

Translation problems to English

Шаблон:Further

Kafka often made extensive use of a characteristic particular to German, which permits long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—this being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is due to the construction of subordinate clauses in German, which require that the verb be at the end of the sentence. Such constructions are difficult to duplicate in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same (or at least equivalent) effect as the original text.Шаблон:Sfn German's more flexible word order and syntactical differences provide for multiple ways in which the same German writing can be translated into English.Шаблон:Sfn An example is the first sentence of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, which is crucial to the setting and understanding of the entire story:Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Verse translation

The sentence above also exemplifies an instance of another difficult problem facing translators: dealing with the author's intentional use of ambiguous idioms and words that have several meanings, which results in phrasing that is difficult to translate precisely.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn English translators often render the word Шаблон:Lang as 'insect'; in Middle German, however, Шаблон:Lang literally means 'an animal unclean for sacrifice';Шаблон:Sfn in today's German, it means 'vermin'. It is sometimes used colloquially to mean 'bug'—a very general term, unlike the scientific '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.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Another example of this can be found in the final sentence of "Das Urteil" ("The Judgement"), with Kafka's use of the German noun Шаблон:Lang. Literally, Шаблон:Lang means 'intercourse' and, as in English, can have either a sexual or a non-sexual meaning. The word is additionally used to mean 'transport' or 'traffic', therefore the sentence can also be translated as: "At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge."Шаблон:Sfn The double meaning of Verkehr is given added weight by Kafka's confession to Brod that when he wrote that final line he was thinking of "a violent ejaculation."Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Legacy

Literary and cultural influence

The statue is a man with no head or arms, with another man sitting on his shoulders
Jaroslav Róna's bronze Statue of Franz Kafka in Prague

Unlike many famous writers, Kafka is rarely quoted by others. Instead, he is noted more for his visions and perspective.Шаблон:Sfn Kafka had a strong influence on Gabriel García Márquez,[19] Milan Kundera[20] and the novel The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare.[21] Shimon Sandbank, a professor, literary critic, and writer, also identifies Kafka as having influenced Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, Eugène Ionesco, J. M. Coetzee and Jean-Paul Sartre.Шаблон:Sfn A Financial Times literary critic credits Kafka with influencing José Saramago,Шаблон:Sfn and Al Silverman, a writer and editor, states that J. D. Salinger loved to read Kafka's works.Шаблон:Sfn The Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu said "Kafka is the author I love the most and who means, for me, the gate to literature"; he also described Kafka as "the saint of literature".Шаблон:Sfn Kafka has been cited as an influence on the Swedish writer Stig Dagerman,[22][23] and the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, who paid homage to Kafka in his novel Kafka on the Shore with the namesake protagonist.[24]

In 1999 a committee of 99 authors, scholars, and literary critics ranked Шаблон:Lang and Шаблон:Lang the second and ninth most significant German-language novels of the 20th century.Шаблон:Sfn Harold Bloom said "when he is most himself, Kafka gives us a continuous inventiveness and originality that rivals Dante and truly challenges Proust and Joyce as that of the dominant Western author of our century".[25] Sandbank argues that despite Kafka's pervasiveness, his enigmatic style has yet to be emulated.Шаблон:Sfn Neil Christian Pages, a professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University who specialises in Kafka's works, says Kafka's influence transcends literature and literary scholarship; it impacts visual arts, music, and popular culture.Шаблон:Sfn Harry Steinhauer, a professor of German and Jewish literature, says that Kafka "has made a more powerful impact on literate society than any other writer of the twentieth century".Шаблон:Sfn Brod said that the 20th century will one day be known as the "century of Kafka".Шаблон:Sfn

Michel-André Bossy writes that Kafka created a rigidly inflexible and sterile bureaucratic universe. Kafka wrote in an aloof manner full of legal and scientific terms. Yet his serious universe also had insightful humour, all highlighting the "irrationality at the roots of a supposedly rational world".Шаблон:Sfn His characters are trapped, confused, full of guilt, frustrated, and lacking understanding of their surreal world. Much post-Kafka fiction, especially science fiction, follows the themes and precepts of Kafka's universe. This can be seen in the works of authors such as George Orwell and Ray Bradbury.Шаблон:Sfn

The following are examples of works across a range of dramatic, literary, and musical genres that demonstrate the extent of Kafka's cultural influence:

Title Year Medium Remarks Ref
Ein Landarzt 1951 opera by Hans Werner Henze, based on Kafka's story Шаблон:Sfn
"A Friend of Kafka" 1962 short story by Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer, about a Yiddish actor called Jacques Kohn who said he knew Franz Kafka; in this story, according to Jacques Kohn, Kafka believed in the Golem, a legendary creature from Jewish folklore Шаблон:Sfn
The Trial 1962 film the film's director, Orson Welles, said, "Say what you like, but The Trial is my greatest work, even greater than Citizen Kane" Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Watermelon Man 1970 film partly inspired by The Metamorphosis, where a white bigot wakes up as a black man Шаблон:Sfn
Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24 1985 music by Hungarian composer György Kurtág for soprano and violin, using fragments of Kafka's diary and letters Шаблон:Sfn
A Letter to Elise 1992 music by English rock band The Cure, was heavily influenced by Letters to Felice by Kafka [26]
Kafka's Dick 1986 play by Alan Bennett, in which the ghosts of Kafka, his father Hermann and Brod arrive at the home of an English insurance clerk (and Kafka aficionado) and his wife Шаблон:Sfn
Better Morphosis 1991 short story parodic short story by Brian W. Aldiss, where a cockroach wakes up one morning to find out that it has turned into Franz Kafka [27]
Kafka 1991 film stars Jeremy Irons as the eponymous author; written by Lem Dobbs and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the movie mixes his life and fiction providing a semi-biographical presentation of Kafka's life and works; Kafka investigates the disappearance of one of his colleagues, taking Kafka through many of the writer's own works, most notably The Castle and The Trial Шаблон:Sfn
Das Schloß 1992 opera German-language opera by Aribert Reimann who wrote his own libretto based on Kafka's novel and its dramatization by Max Brod, premiered on 2 September 1992 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, staged by Willy Decker and conducted by Michael Boder. Шаблон:Sfn
Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life 1993 film short comedy film made for BBC Scotland, won an Oscar, was written and directed by Peter Capaldi, and starred Richard E. Grant as Kafka Шаблон:Sfn
Bad Mojo 1996 computer game loosely based on The Metamorphosis, with characters named Franz and Roger Samms, alluding to Gregor Samsa Шаблон:Sfn
In the Penal Colony 2000 opera by Philip Glass, to a libretto by Rudy Wurlitzer Шаблон:Sfn
Kafka on the Shore 2002 novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, on The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2005 list, World Fantasy Award recipient Шаблон:Sfn
Statue of Franz Kafka 2003 sculpture an outdoor sculpture on Vězeňská street in the Jewish Quarter of Prague, by artist Jaroslav Róna [28]
Kafka's Trial 2005 opera by Danish composer Poul Ruders, based on the novel and parts of Kafka's life; first performed in 2005, released on CD Шаблон:Sfn
Kafka's Soup 2005 book by Mark Crick, is a literary pastiche in the form of a cookbook, with recipes written in the style of a famous author Шаблон:Sfn
Kafka the Musical 2011 radio play by BBC Radio 3 produced as part of their Play of the Week programme. Franz Kafka was played by David Tennant Шаблон:Sfn
Sound InterpretationsШаблон:SndsDedication To Franz Kafka 2012 music HAZE Netlabel released musical compilation Sound Interpretations – Dedication To Franz Kafka. In this release musicians rethink the literary heritage of Kafka Шаблон:Sfn
Google Doodle 2013 internet culture Google had a sepia-toned doodle of a roach in a hat opening a door, honoring Kafka's 130th birthday Шаблон:Sfn
The Metamorphosis 2013 dance Royal Ballet production of The Metamorphosis with Edward Watson Шаблон:Sfn
Café Kafka 2014 opera by Spanish composer Francisco Coll on a text by Meredith Oakes, built from texts and fragments by Franz Kafka; Commissioned by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and Royal Opera Covent Garden Шаблон:Sfn
Head of Franz Kafka 2014 sculpture an outdoor sculpture in Prague by David Černý [29]
VRwandlung 2018 virtual reality a virtual reality experience of the first part of The Metamorphosis, directed by Mika Johnson [30]

"Kafkaesque"

Шаблон:Redirect The term "Kafkaesque" is used to describe concepts and situations reminiscent of Kafka's work, particularly Шаблон:Lang (The Trial) and Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis).[31] Examples include instances in which bureaucracies overpower people, often in a surreal, nightmarish milieu that evokes feelings of senselessness, disorientation, and helplessness. Characters in a Kafkaesque setting often lack a clear course of action to escape a labyrinthine situation. Kafkaesque elements often appear in existential works, but the term has transcended the literary realm to apply to real-life occurrences and situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre, or illogical.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Numerous films and television works have been described as Kafkaesque, and the style is particularly prominent in dystopian science fiction. Works in this genre that have been thus described include Patrick Bokanowski's film The Angel (1982), Terry Gilliam's film Brazil (1985), and Alex Proyas' science fiction film noir, Dark City (1998). Films from other genres which have been similarly described include Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976) and the Coen brothers' Barton Fink (1991).Шаблон:Sfn The television series The Prisoner and The Twilight Zone are also frequently described as Kafkaesque.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

However, with common usage, the term has become so ubiquitous that Kafka scholars note it is often misused.[32] More accurately then, according to author Ben Marcus, paraphrased in "What it Means to be Kafkaesque" by Joe Fassler in The Atlantic, "Kafka's quintessential qualities are affecting use of language, a setting that straddles fantasy and reality, and a sense of striving even in the face of bleakness—hopelessly and full of hope."[33]

Commemorations

Файл:Czech-2013-Prague-Plaque (birthplace of Franz Kafka).jpg
Plaque marking the birthplace of Franz Kafka in Prague, designed by Karel Hladík and Jan Kaplický, 1966

3412 Kafka is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 January 1983 by American astronomers Randolph Kirk and Donald Rudy at Palomar Observatory in California, United States,[34] and named after Kafka by them.[35]

The Franz Kafka Museum in Prague is dedicated to Kafka and his work. A major component of the museum is an exhibit, The City of K. Franz Kafka and Prague, which was first shown in Barcelona in 1999, moved to the Jewish Museum in New York City, and finally established in Prague in Malá Strana (Lesser Town), along the Moldau, in 2005. The Franz Kafka Museum calls its display of original photos and documents Město K. Franz Kafka a Praha ("City K. Kafka and Prague") and aims to immerse the visitor into the world in which Kafka lived and about which he wrote.Шаблон:Sfn

The Franz Kafka Prize, established in 2001, is an annual literary award of the Franz Kafka Society and the City of Prague. It recognizes the merits of literature as "humanistic character and contribution to cultural, national, language and religious tolerance, its existential, timeless character, its generally human validity, and its ability to hand over a testimony about our times".Шаблон:Sfn The selection committee and recipients come from all over the world, but are limited to living authors who have had at least one work published in Czech.Шаблон:Sfn The recipient receives $10,000, a diploma, and a bronze statuette at a presentation in Prague's Old Town Hall, on the Czech State Holiday in late October.Шаблон:Sfn

San Diego State University operates the Kafka Project, which began in 1998 as the official international search for Kafka's last writings.Шаблон:Sfn

Notes

Шаблон:Notelist

References

Citations

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Шаблон:Refbegin

Journals
Newspapers
Online sources

Шаблон:Refend

Further reading

Шаблон:Refbegin

Books on Kafka and Prague

  • Eisner, Pavel (1950). Franz Kafka and Prague. New York: Golden Griffin Books.
  • Frynta, Emanuel (1960). Kafka and Prague. London: Batchworth Press Limited.
  • Hatefutsoth, Beth (1980). Kafka–Prague. Tel Aviv: The Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora.
  • Kállay, Karol (2005). Franz Kafka and Prague. Bratislava: Slovart Publishing Ltd. (Chicago, Illinois: Independent Publishers Group).
  • Salfellner, Harald (1998). Franz Kafka and Prague: Third greatly revised and enlarged edition. Prague: Vitalis.
  • Salfellner, Harald (2011). Franz Kafka and Prague: A Literary Guide. Prague: Vitallis.
  • Wagenbach, Klaus (1996). Kafka's Prague: A Travel Reader. Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press.
  • Wagenbach, Klaus (2019). Kafka's Prague. London: Armchair Traveller (first published in English by Haus Publishing Ltd, 2003).
  • Železná, Marta, ed. (1998). Kafka and Prague. Third revised edition. Prague: Franz Kafka Publishers.

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  1. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  2. ↑ Шаблон:Britannica
  3. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  4. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  5. ↑ Wagenbach, Klaus (2019), pp. 154, 159.
  6. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  7. ↑ Tal, Josef. Tonspur – Auf Der Suche Nach Dem Klang Des Lebens. Berlin: Henschel, 2005. pp. 43–44
  8. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  9. ↑ F. Kafka, New Jewish Cemetery, Prague: Marsyas 1991, p. 56
  10. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  11. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  12. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  13. ↑ Franz Kafka: The Drawings, edited by Andreas Kilcher, in collaboration with Pavel Schmidt ; with essays by Judith Butler and Andreas Kilcher; translations from the German by Kurt Beals. Review
  14. ↑ Diamant, Kathi, Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant, p. 132.
  15. ↑ Kafka, Franz, The Diaries, translated by Ross Benjamin, New York: Schocken Books, 2023.
  16. ↑ "The Kafka You Never Knew" (Review by Dwight Garner of Ross Benjamin's translation of Kafka's Diaries), The New York Times, 11 January 2023.
  17. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  18. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  19. ↑ Hannelore Hahn The Influence of Franz Kafka on Three Novels by Gabriel García Márquez, P.Lang 1993
  20. ↑ Lenka Žehrová "Sur les traces de Franz Kafka dans l’œuvre de Milan Kundera // In the footsteps of Franz Kafka in the work of Milan Kundera"
  21. ↑ Peter Morgan Ismail Kadare: The Writer and the Dictatorship 1957-1990 Routledge 2017, p.229
  22. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  23. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  24. ↑ Masaki Mori Haruki Murakami and His Early Work: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Running Artist, Rowman & Littlefield 2021
  25. ↑ Harold Bloom Franz Kafka, Infobase Publishing 2010, p.8
  26. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  27. ↑ Aldiss, Brian W. (1991). Better Morphosis, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1991. Subsequently reprinted in the Aldiss collections Bodily Functions and A Tupolev Too Far and Other Stories.
  28. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  29. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  30. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  31. ↑ “Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  32. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  33. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  34. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  35. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
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