Kafka

Biography

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927) (Dachslager). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable. "When a subsequent diagnosis revealed an improved condition, Kafka was so overwhelmed with happiness that he proposed marriage to Dymant. But within two weeks he suffered great pain and pleaded for his physician to administer morphine. Injections were given, and an ice pack was set on Kafka's throat. On June 3, he awoke and threw the ice pack from himself, then lapsed again into unconsciousness and death" (Contemporary). He died in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

Influences

Kafka had many influences to his writing, most of which were German (Grillparzer, Kleist, Goethe) (Dodd), but this did not stop his work from being difficult to relate to. By keeping his setting and other aspects of his work ambiguous, he allows the reader to connect with the central themes of his works. Another influence of Kafka was his surroundings, in fact, Metamorphosis is loosely based on the relationship with his father who played a tyrranical role in his life much like the "Mr. Samsa" assumed later in the novella.

List of Works

Works Cited

Contemporary Authors Online. "Franz Kafka". Gale 2003. 17 Apr. 2006. Franz Kafka

Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

William J. Dodd, University of Birmingham. "Franz Kafka." The Literary Encylopedia. 16 Jan. 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company. 20 April 2006 <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2429>