On July 3rd, 1883, Franz Kafka was born in the city of Prague (at the time part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire) to a middle-class Jewish family. He was the eldest of six

children though only four survived infancy. He had three younger sisters who would
die during World War 2 in Nazi concentration camps.
Franz’s father was a businessman who sold fancy goods and accessories, his father
did not approve of his literary ambitions and tried to steer him into a more practical
career as a lawyer.
Kafka attended German schools for elementary and secondary schools doing well
and went to the Charles Ferdinand University from which he graduated on June 18 th,
1906, with a degree of Law.
During Kafka’s time at university, he met and befriended another student a year
younger than him named Max Brod who would be his close friend for the rest of his
life.

Despite being born into a Jewish family his experience with Judaism was
limited to a bar-mitzvah and attending synagogue four times a year with his father.
He would later write in his diary that he felt little in common with Jews and did not
incorporate many if any Jewish themes into his works.

In 1906 after graduating collage Kafka would spend a year working unpaid service
as a clerk for criminal courts. After this in 1907 he would sign on with a large Italian
law firm, however he was extremely unhappy with his work schedule (from 8:00 PM-
6:00 AM) which made it difficult to concentrate on his writing when he got home
due to tiredness.
He would resign a year later and sign on with Accident Insurance Institute for the
Kingdom of Bohemia in 1908 which he would remain with until 1922 when he would
retire due to poor health.
However, despite receiving several promotions and being thought of as a
hardworking employee, he often referred to it as a “bread job” just to pay the bills
so he could focus on his true passion, writing.
In 1912 Kafka published his first work, Betrachtung translating to meditations, or
contemplation.
It was a collection of eighteen short stories which all explore how Kafka was feeling
at the time, many stories had themes of loneliness and isolation which he felt
throughout his life. The stories also had absurdist and surreal qualities to them
establishing Kafka’s unique Kafkaesque style which he would continue to refine over
time.
Over the next few years he would publish more short stories until 1915 when he
published what would become his most famous work the novella Die Verwandlung,
translating to The Metamorphosis.
In the Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover that he had
transformed into a giant beetle and is shunned by his family and friends. The work
once again explores themes of isolation, and the absurdity of life, while also refining
Kafka’s style.
The story also explores themes of self-worth as Gregor is no longer able to provide
for his family as a salesman in his new form, he is forced to question his place in the
world as he lost all the value he saw himself as bringing to the world.
Through the lens of this book we can see the regular isolation and alienation Kafka
might have felt in his day to day life.
Another short story he would pen and publish and would later be incorporated into
his novel the Trial was “before the law” the story is highly bizarre and surreal,
featuring a traveler who seeks the law. The traveler goes before an open gate
guarded only by a man who tells the traveler that he can attempt to pass him
however there are still two more gates before the law each having it’s own guard
more powerful than the last, and that even if the traveler got past the first two
guards he would not pass the third.
The traveler is afraid and does not attempt to pass the guard instead deciding to try
and wait until he is allowed in, until he dies of old age and the door is closed. In his
last moments the guard tells him the gate was only for him and closes the gate.
The piece presents a message of the illusiveness of the law and oppressive
authority held up only by the illusion of control, That keeps people from justice and
the truth simply by telling them they will fail if they attempt to do so and make
them wait until they have waited on there last breath.
And perhaps encourages the reader to take the travelers tale as a warning, and to
take a step against the forces that deny them justice, rather than waiting for justice
to be given, until your time is past and nobody is left to question the lies that keep
them imprisoned.
Around 1917 Kafka experienced a violent coughing fit resulting in a lounge
hemorrhage, he was shortly after diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the time, a usually
fatal disease which would plague him until and result in the end of his life.

A few years later as Kafka’s health continued to decline in 1919. This would
spark a relationship that would leave a profound impact on him and engulf much of
the few remaining years of his life.
A journalist living in Vienna discovered a short story by Franz Kafka and sent
him a letter asking for permission to translate the work into Czech. This Journalist
was Milena Jesenska, after this they began to exchange further correspondence
through letters initially about literature and further translations. Over time Kafka
would begin discussing his mental state, confessing feelings of his anxiety and self-
doubt.
Within a few months they decided to meet in person for a few days in Vienna. There
meeting was brief and somewhat awkward on account of Kafka’s social anxieties.
However despite Kafka’s feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt he found Milena to
be someone he could confide his deepest thoughts with and their bond continued to
grow.
After this they would continue to speak through letters, Kafka would develop a love
for Milena that he would express through writings to her. they would discuss deeply
emotional and poetic topics, telling each other much of their emotions and inner
thoughts.
Kafka expressed a desire to be closer to Milena yet also fears being near her do to
his poor mental condition and rapidly deteriorating health, writing "You are the knife
I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love."

They would continue exchanging letters until 1923 when his Tuberculosis worsened
to the point where he was in constant pain and often lacked the strength to write.
His mental state also continued to darken and his connection with Milena began to
fade. Over time the letters tapered off and eventually stop.
After his death Milena would write about him, saying of him "He lived in fear, and
yet had so much courage"

In spring of 1924 his heath had gotten to the point where he had to stay in a
sanitarium and would certainly die, in his anguish due to self-doubt and shame he
burned most of his work, feeling that his work was unworthy to be read, and fearing
that readers wouldn’t understand his work and fearing that his legacy would be of
humiliation and misunderstanding, he attempted to purge any such legacy.
Of the little writing that remained he left instructions to his lifelong friend 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.”
Max however told Kafka that he would not go through with his request and tried to
get him to see the value on his work. Despite knowing that max would no honor his
request he did not make changes, or ask another to carry the task out.
Franz Kafka died on June 3rd 1924.
Max would retain and later publish the work he was given by Kafka as well as letters
and diary entries, saying "Kafka was not a person who, as a creative artist, knew
how to value his own works. He was too tortured by his own internal doubts."
And "Kafka’s works were not created to be destroyed, but to be read, even if there
were misunderstandings. They had to be preserved, even if the world had not yet
prepared itself to understand them."
The most notable works to be published from this were “the castle” and “the trial.”
These are considered to be his masterpieces delving deep into the world Kafka saw
around him through absurdity and metaphor, resulting in some of the greatest
writings of the modern age able to capture the feelings of people from around the
world and retain relevance.
I believe that despite what he said Kafka was able to recognize at least a fragment
of the value of these works and entrusted them to max knowing he keep them safe,
yet still not being able to bear the weight of putting such things to word and left his
dear friend to do what he could not.