We are sure that anyone who is more or less interested in literature has heard of Franz Kafka and has read some, if not all, of his works. Because Kafka is such a writer. Not only is he one of the most important writers of 20th century world literature, he also influences today’s literary world because Franz Kafka’s style still lives on with Kafkaesque narrative.
Franz Kafka lived a miserable life and passed away at a young age. Almost none of his works were published during his lifetime, but thanks to his works published after his death, his name was written in golden letters in our world literature history. I don’t know what he would think if he lived. Let’s take a brief look at Franz Kafka’s life and see some of his must-read works such as The Metamorphosis.
Who is Franz Kafka? Fantastic child of realism:
Franz Kafka was born on June 3, 1883 in Prague, the Kingdom of Bohemia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of a German-speaking Jewish family. Despite having studied law, he started working for an insurance company and started writing in his spare time from this boring job. Kafka, who wrote many letters during this period, was engaged many times, never married, and died on 3 June 1924 due to tuberculosis.
Although his stories such as Observation, Bir Village Physician, and Transformation were published in some literary magazines, they did not attract any attention. On his deathbed, he gave his works, which he started but did not complete, such as The Case, Castle, America, to his friend Max Brod, and asked him to destroy it when he died. Fortunately, Brod did not listen to this and had the works published. Thanks to this, we know today that a person named Kafka lived and wrote such things.
Some of the works of Franz Kafka that you must read:
- Transformation
- Case
- Castle
- aphorisms
- Letters to Milena
- In the Penal Colony and Other Stories
- America
- Letter to Dad
A unique story in world literature: Transformation
The story of Transformation, written by Franz Kafka at a time when he felt too bored to get out of bed while writing his novel America, was first published in 1915 in a literary magazine called Die Weissen Blaetter. This story, which started with a brilliant sentence such as “Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from oppressive dreams, found himself transformed into a gigantic insect in his bed”, describes the modern man’s sense of being stuck and lonely in its most naked form through a unique metaphor.
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A dystopian legal system: Litigation
It is possible to say that the case is a kind of dystopian story. Some also say that this story is a prediction of Nazi Germany. In the story, we read about the experiences of our character, who is accused by an indisputable authority. In the legal system described, the criminal is important, not the crime, and according to the intentions, a person can be accused even before a crime is committed. While drawing a dark future on the one hand, Kafka questions the concepts of crime and freedom on the other.
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The dictatorship of the mysterious earl: The Castle
The story of the Castle takes place in a dark world just like the story of the Trial. Since it was written at a time when the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated and modern nation-states were established, it is possible to say that it portrays a kind of sinister future. Our main character in the story is a mysterious earl who lives in a castle. Countless bureaucrats working in a strange hierarchy are props around this earl and satisfy his dictatorial aspirations.
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Texts that seem endless: Aphorisms
Franz Kafka wrote throughout his life, perhaps until his last breath. Some of these were tales with a clear beginning, but some were just texts that he would have gone mad if he didn’t write them. These are also called small stories. Some of what has been written has been compiled and compiled by Max Brod. Others were combined years later into different books such as Aphorisms. Here, the book of Aphorisms contains some of these texts, the date of which is unclear.
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It’s like a weird romance novel: Letters to Milena
One day, while Franz Kafka was sitting with his friends, the door opened and Milena entered with a friend. Kafka asked journalist Milena Jesenska to translate some of her stories into Czech. This small request started an endless love between the two. In April 1920, Kafka wrote his first letter to Milena and continued to write almost until the day he took his last breath. All these writings were combined in the book, Letters to Milena, to create a kind of romance novel.
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All his stories published while he was alive: In the Penitentiary Colony and Other Stories
Most of the stories, novels, letters, and other texts penned by Franz Kafka were published by Max Brod after his death. Few of his writings were published while Kafka was alive. Here, all of his works that were published while he was alive were combined in a book called Penal Colony and Other Stories. Reading works that were not appreciated by those who read them at the time, is like an extraordinary journey to the inner world of the author.
You can click here to view and purchase the book In The Penal Colony and Other Stories in more detail.
The strange face of the new world: America
It is interesting that he even wrote a novel about America without ever going to America, and Kafka’s first novel was published for the first time three years after his death. Our main character in the American novel is a 16-year-old boy named Karl Rossmann. This young man goes to the USA, which was seen as the most modern civilization at that time, as an immigrant. From the eyes of our character, we read the story of the rise of mechanization and the shrinking of people in parallel with it.
You can click here to review and purchase the America book in more detail.
Like a ten-page scream: Letter to the Father
Letter to the Father is truly an extraordinary work because it contains the full text of Franz Kafka’s 45-page letter to his father. He gave this letter, which he wrote to his father in 1919, to his mother, but his mother reportedly did not give this letter to his father and later returned it to Kafka. It is not known whether his father read it, but this letter was first published in 1952, making it readable by the whole world. Every sentence in the letter is penetrating to the reader because Kafka talks about the psychological violence his father inflicted on him throughout the pages.
You can click here to review and purchase the Letter to Father book in more detail.
We have listed some of his must-read works by answering the question of who is Franz Kafka, who left his mark on the 20th century and is considered one of the greatest writers who ever lived. You can share your thoughts about Franz Kafka in the comments.
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