Franz Kafka

German-language Jewish Czech writer of surreal bureaucratic predicaments.

Born in Prague on 3 July 1883, Franz Kafka was a German-language writer of Jewish Czech heritage who passed away on 3 June 1924.^[1] Kafka's writing combines realistic and fantastical elements, commonly centering on solitary main characters encountering strange difficulties and incomprehensible administrative systems.^[1]

Quick Facts

Born

3 July 1883

Birthplace

Prague, Austria-Hungary

Died

3 June 1924

Place of death

Klosterneuburg, Austria

Burial place

New Jewish Cemetery, Prague

Occupation

Novelist
short story writer
insurance officer

Education

German Charles-Ferdinand University

Style

Modernism

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He trained as a lawyer and worked in legal and insurance jobs, feeling his true vocation was writing.^[2] On 15 July 1908 he resigned from an insurance company where he was unhappy, and two weeks later joined the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia.^[3] His job involved investigating compensation for industrial workers' injuries, and he was rapidly promoted.^[3][4] Kafka was diagnosed with tuberculosis in August 1917 and spent much of his remaining life in sanatoriums.^[5][6]

He died on 3 June 1924 in a sanatorium near Vienna, with the cause of death appearing to be starvation because his throat made eating too painful.^[7][8] Kafka's birthplace was near Prague's Old Town Square, where he was raised in a German-speaking Jewish household of the middle class.^[9][2] Interment of Kafka's remains occurred on 11 June 1924 at Prague's New Jewish Cemetery.^[10] Not one of Kafka's full-length novels was completed, and he destroyed approximately 90 percent of his written output.^[11]

What the cited sources add

A 2023 article notes that a new translation of Kafka's diaries restores much of his Jewish musings, including his lifelong interest in Yiddish theater.^[12] The same source states that Kafka saw in Judaism an opportunity to forge a shared community.^[12] The diaries reveal Kafka's growing fascination with Jewish culture in young adulthood, particularly around a traveling Yiddish theater troupe.^[12] Kafka himself wrote and delivered an introduction to these performances in Yiddish.^[12]

At the family grave site in Prague's New Jewish Cemetery, a plaque honors Kafka's three sisters.^[13]

References

Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herz, "Franz Kafka and Austria: National Background and Ethnic Identity", Modern Austrian Literature, 1978, p. 301–318; Spindler, "Magical Realism: A Typology", Forum for Modern Language Studies, 1993, p. 90–93 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People", Beit Hatfutsot; "A new translation of Franz Kafka's diaries restores much of his Jewish musings", www.jta.org, 12 January 2023; Gray, Jefferson M., review in The Federal Lawyer, October 2009, of Franz Kafka: The Office Writings. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Corngold et al. 2009, p. 28 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stach 2005, p. [https://archive.org/details/kafkadecisiveyea00stac/page/22/mode/2up 22] (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brod 1960, p. 3–5; Corngold 2011, p. 339–343; Steinhauer 1983, p. 390–408 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Apel 2012, p. 28 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brod 1966, p. 53–54 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Believer 2006; Brod 1960, p. 3–5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gilman 2005, p. 20–21; Northey 1997, p. 8–10; Kohoutikriz 2011; Gilman 2005, p. 20–21; Brod 1960, p. 3–5; Gilman 2005, p. 20–21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brod 1960, p. 3–5; European Graduate School 2012; Ackermann 1950, p. 106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, "Franz Kafka Wrote in German: Czechs Pay Scant Homage to Their Greatest Writer", Los Angeles Times, 1987-07-06; Batuman, "Kafka's Last Trial", The New York Times, 22 September 2010; Stach 2005, p. [https://archive.org/details/kafkadecisiveyea00stac/page/22/mode/2up 22]; Murray 2004, p. 62; Furst 1992, p. 84 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"A new translation of Franz Kafka's diaries restores much of his Jewish musings", www.jta.org, 12 January 2023. facts only, no text reused. jta.org
Wikipedia, "Franz Kafka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Zur Erinnerung an Gabriele Kafka", gabriele-kafka.zurerinnerung.at (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Franz Kafka (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.