Franz Kafka
Writer
The writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born in Prague on 3 July 1883. His three unfinished novels The Man Who Disappeared (Amerika), The Trial, and The Castle, along with numerous stories, are part of the canon of world literature. There is even an adjective based on his name: Kafkaesque.
Kafka’s family ran a fancy goods store. They were assimilated, liberal Jews and spoke German. Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague and worked for the Kingdom of Bohemia at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute from 1908 to 1922. Although he was not conscripted because of his “essential occupation,” the First World War (1914–1918) thwarted Kafka’s plan to leave Prague for a career in writing.
Kafka was engaged to be married several times. Among his most important relationships were those with Felice Bauer from Berlin, the Czech Milena Jesenska, and the Polish woman Dora Diamant. Kafka fell ill with tuberculosis in 1917. In fall 1923, he moved to Berlin for some months and devoted himself completely to writing. He died on 3 June 1924 in an Austrian sanatorium, aged almost forty-one.
Passport photo of Franz Kafka, 1915/16; akg-image / Archiv K. Wagenbach
His friend Max Brod defied Kafka’s wish for all his manuscripts to be burned. In 1939, Brod took most of Kafka’s unpublished works to Palestine, saving them from the German occupiers and ultimately bringing them into the public sphere.
A Selection of Franz Kafka’s Writings and Publications
| 1904 | first draft of Descriptions of a Struggle |
| 1907 | starts first draft of Wedding Preparations in the Country |
| 1908 | publication of eight prose pieces in the literary magazine Hyperion |
| 1909 | beginning of the surviving diaries works on the second draft of Descriptions of a Struggle |
| 1912 | starts work on The Man Who Disappeared 22–23 September: Kafka writes The Judgement in a single night writes The Metamorphosis publication of Meditation (published by Kurt Wolff Verlag) |
| 1913 | publication of The Stoker (Kurt Wolff Verlag) + The Judgement in the yearbook Arkadia (ed. Max Brod) |
| 1914 | starts work on The Trial writes Before the Law + In the Penal Colony + The Village Schoolmaster + The Great Theatre of Oklahoma |
| 1915 | publication of The Metamorphosis (Kurt Wolff Verlag) |
| 1916 | publication of The Judgement (Kurt Wolff Verlag) writes A Country Doctor + The Great Wall of China + In the Gallery |
| 1917 | writes Odradek, or Cares of a Householder publication in Martin Buber's monthly Der Jude, two stories: Jackals and Arabs + A Report for an Academy |
| 1919 | publication of In the Penal Colony (Kurt Wolff Verlag) writes Letter to His Father (which was never given to his father) |
| 1920 | publication of A Country Doctor (Kurt Wolff Verlag) writes Fellowship + The City Coat of Arms |
| 1922 | starts work on The Castle writes A Hunger Artist + Investigations of a Dog |
| 1923 | writes A Little Woman + The Burrow |
| 1924 | writes Josefine, the Singer or The Mouse-People posthumous publication of A Hunger Artist (Verlag Die Schmiede) |
