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 ==Biography==
-Franz Kafka was born in Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of Austria. His father was Hermann Kafka, an owner of a large dry goods establishment, and mother Julie (Löwy) Kafka, who belonged to one of the leading families in the German-speaking, German-cultured Jewish circles of Prague. Hermann Kafka was a domestic tyrant, who directed his anger against his son. Kafka also had three sisters, all of whom perished in Nazi camps. Many of Kafka's stories deal with the struggle between father and son, or a scorned individual's pleading innocence in front of remote figures of authority (1).  Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society.  To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).
+Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society.  To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).
-Kafka's family situation was very stressed, even at times bordering on dysfunctional.  Given the hatred he had for his father's domestic tyranny (1), it is reasonable to assume that much tension arose as a result of this. Add this to his societal rejection as a member of Prauge's Jewish minority and his family life really begins to shape up. Kafka was educated at the German National and Civic Elementary School and the German National Humanistic Gymnasium. In 1901, he entered Ferdinand-Karls University, where he studied law and received a doctorate in 1906.  During these years Kafka became a member of a circle of intellectuals, which included Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum and Max Brod, whom Kafka met in 1902. About 1904, Kafka began writing, making reports on industrial accidents and health hazard in the office by day, and writing stories by night. His profession marked the formal, legalistic language of his stories which avoided all sentimentality and moral interpretations - all conclusions are left to the reader. (1)
 Due to the the large amount of debts that began to pile up on his family's shoulders, Kafka retained a position in the aforementioned insurance company, still writing on the side (Contemporary). Until his retirement, Kafka worked at the insurance business (1907-23), first at an administrative position in a Prague branch of an Italian insurance company and then at the Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute of Prague. His work was highly valued at the company and during World War I his supervisors arranged for his draft deferment.(1 This is proof that he was <i>not</i> a socially inept person as some of his works suggest.  However, in 1922, he left the company, no longer able to work due to the advancement of his illness.
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 '''Czech Independence'''
-Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of the Austria-Hungarian Empire the citizens were weary of the “restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands” (www.livingprague.com).  A resistance to the oppression by the German influenced monarch built up during World War I.  A lead “university professor, philosopher, and politician Tomas Masaryk” (www.livingprague.com) led the fight for Czechoslovakian independence abroad.  On the home front resistance grew gradually until it was clear that “things were not in Austria-Hungary’s favor” (www.livingprauge.com). Czechoslovakia became an independent republic on October 28, 1918.
+Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of the Austria-Hungarian Empire the citizens were weary of the “restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands” (www.livingprague.com).  A resistance to the oppression by the German influenced monarch built up during World War I.  A lead “university professor, philosopher, and politician Tomas Masaryk” ([http://www.livingprague.com www.livingprague.com]) led the fight for Czechoslovakian independence abroad.  On the home front resistance grew gradually until it was clear that “things were not in Austria-Hungary’s favor” ([http://www.livingprauge.com www.livingprague.com]). Czechoslovakia became an independent republic on October 28, 1918.
 ==Links==
 ==Works Cited==
-#Franz Kafka. April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>
+"Franz Kafka". April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>
-#"Franz Kafka".  ''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2003). ''Contemporary Authors.''  17 Apr. 2006.  [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]
-#Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.
+"Franz Kafka".  ''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2003). ''Contemporary Authors.''  17 Apr. 2006.  [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]
-#www.livingprague.com
+Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.
+[http://www.livingprague.com www.livingprague.com]