Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a Prague born novelist and short story writer often regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Though he only made it to age 40 before falling victim to tuberculosis, in a very similar theme to last week with Emily Dickinson, I must say we are very lucky to have the little information we do about Kafka’s life – like Emily, he asked for all of his letters and work to be burned after he died, though thankfully, a fiery death to his literary legacy was avoided. Kafka’s focus in his writing revolved predominantly around isolation and alienation, anxiety particularly in social settings, and of course, don’t forget a nice dose of good old-fashioned guilt. However, he would dress these ideas up through elements of fantastical realism, thus making his literary pieces, if I am honest, both absurdly strange and mildly depressing at the same time. Much of Kafka’s work was not released until after his death despite the fact that friends, girlfriends, and family members all were well aware of his talent in writing, and the pieces that were published during his life gained very little public attention. So, what is the story behind this dark, mysterious writer who clearly was battling with some serious internal demons? Let’s go ahead and take a look and examine the life of Franz Kafka.