FRANZ KAFKA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS AND PHRASES - ARTE - 2024

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a writer born in Prague, during the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, considered one of the most influential authors in history. The quality of his work was rooted in the development of archetypal and psychological themes.

Kafka's work was written in German and became widely known after his death. His writings were characterized by being framed in conflict and complexity; in these, the expressions of anguish and psychosis were notorious.

Franz Kafka. Source: Atelier Jacobi: Sigismund Jacobi (1860–1935), via Wikimedia Commons

The literary genres developed by Kafka were the novel and the short story. The term "Kafkaesque" is the one commonly used when mentioning the work of this writer, due to its unique style. His best known titles were: Contemplation, Metamorphosis, The process, The castle and The disappeared.

Biography

Birth and family

Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Czech Republic, into a Jewish family. His father was Hermann Kafka, and he dedicated himself to the meat trade; his mother's name was Julie Löwy, and he came from a wealthy family. He had five brothers, the oldest of them.

Two of his brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died when they were babies. Her childhood and that of her sisters was marked by the severity and rigor of her father. The experiences of her childhood years greatly influenced her literary works.

Education

Franz Kafka studied his first years at the Deutsche Knabenschule, between 1889 and 1893. He then went on to the Royal Imperial High School or Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium. At the end of his adolescence he joined the so-called Free School, which was contrary to Catholicism.

During those years he read Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzsche, and he also sympathized with socialism. In his university stage, he tried several careers until finally, under the insistence of his father, he studied law at Carolina University. The writer graduated from law in 1906.

Years of youth

In his university stage, Kafka got involved in different literary and theatrical activities. During those years, some fears began to be evident, among them the fear of not being accepted for their physical appearance and their way of being. Also at that time he carried out professional practices without receiving any payment.

Kafka at 5 years old. Source: Public domain. Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Shortly after graduating, he began to write, an activity that he later combined with a job that allowed him to live decently. She had the opportunity to make several trips through Europe, being France, Germany and Italy some of her destinations.

Kafka and writing

At twenty-nine years of age, the writer decided to dedicate himself definitively to the art of writing. That was how in 1912 he wrote for eight hours in a row until he gave rise to his work The Trial. Also at the end of that same year he completed the eighteen stories that made up the Contemplación storybook.

In the successive years of 1913 and 1915 the writer devoted himself to developing the works Consideración and La metamorfosis. It was in 1917 that Franz began to suffer from tuberculosis, a disease that did not stop his creativity, since in 1919 he concluded A Rural Doctor.

A loving trance

Kafka's passion and dedication for writing isolated him socially. So much so that the relationship between 1913 and 1917 with Felice Bauer was affected. Communication between the two was almost always through letters, these being more than five hundred.

Although he sometimes tried to travel to Germany to visit her, both his illness and World War I prevented it. After several ruptures, they became engaged in mid-1917.

But, despite the efforts to maintain the relationship, the plans could not be carried out and they ended up definitively breaking up in December of that same year.

Difficult health situation

In 1919 the illness suffered by the writer worsened and he had to be confined to a hospital. There he met a young woman named Julie Wohryzek with whom he began a relationship. Although he wanted to marry her, he could not because of his father's refusal since she did not belong to the same social class.

Milena Jesenská, Kafka's love between 1920 and 1922. Source: Public domain. Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Between 1920 and 1922 Franz Kafka maintained a relationship through letters with the writer Milena Jesenská, who was an admirer of his stories. The lovers managed to meet later in Vienna and Gmünd, although they did not meet again later.

Franz Kafka remained in health centers until 1922. Despite his physical situation, the writer did not put aside his literary production. At that time he developed several stories and also dedicated himself to writing letters to his father to lighten a bit the weight of the tensions produced during his childhood.

A breath

In 1923 the writer had a slight improvement that allowed him to leave the hospital, so he took the opportunity to take a vacation in Müritz, Germany. While there he met the young actress Dora Diamant, twenty-five years old, and with her he spent the last stage of life.

Death

Franz Kafka's grave. Source: Nightwish62, via Wikimedia Commons

Kafka fell ill with pneumonia in December 1923, which further aggravated his health situation. In March 1924 he returned to Prague, but shortly after he had to be hospitalized again in a Vienna sanatorium due to severe complications. He finally died on June 11 of that same year at the age of forty.

Style

Franz Kafka's literary style was characterized by being dark, deep and labyrinthine. Endowed with a well-developed and precise language, in Kafkaesque work there were aspects related to his personal life, especially the relationship with his father and the loss of his brothers at an early age.

In Kafka's writings, the psychological and archetypal were perceived, that is: he was in charge of creating characters with unique features, always caught up in the complicated and distressing. In his work there were also characteristics of existentialism and also reflected his anarchist and socialist ideas.

Plays

Most of Franz Kafka's work was published after his death, so his recognition was posthumous. All this thanks to the fact that his friend and testamentary Max Brod ignored him when the writer ordered him to get rid of all his texts.

In life he had the opportunity to bring to light some stories, but it was thanks to the work of Brod that Kafka became one of the most important writers of world literature. On the other hand, Dora Diamant kept some writings until 1933, however these fell into the hands of the Gestapo and are still sought.

Publications in life

- Contemplation

- "A brevary for ladies" (1909).

- "Conversation with the drunkard" (1909).

- "Conversation with the person praying" (1909).

- "The airplanes in Brescia" (1909).

- "A novel of youth" (1910).

- "An extinct magazine" (1910).

- "First chapter of the book Richard and Samuel" (1912).

- "Barullo" (1912).

- "From Matlárháza" (1920).

- "The cube rider" (1921).

Posthumous works

Sentence

It was a short novel by Kafka, which was subtitled "A story for Felice B." The German title of the work was Das urteil. It was developed on the night of September 22. The writer structured it into four main parts which he called scenes.

It was about a young man in love named Georg Bendemann, who got in touch with a friend who lived in Saint Petersburg through letters. When he went to give the correspondence to his father, a heated discussion arose between them and in the end the misfortune came to the family after a negative wish of the father to the son.

Structure

The scenes that made up the novel were:

- Georg with the letter in the window.

- Georg asks his father for advice.

- Discussion with the father.

- Conviction and execution.

It is important to note that this work by Franz Kafka had a high autobiographical content. The writer largely reflected the hostile relationship he had with his father throughout his life, he also reflected in the protagonist's friend his own way of life.

Fragment

Contemplation

It was one of Kafka's main short story books, which consisted of 18 short stories. In each of the narrations the writer reflected how complicated it could be for a person to relate to others. The insecurities, anxieties and fears came to light.

Some of the stories that made up the work were: "Children on the neighborhood road", "The sudden walk", "Resolutions", "The bachelor's misfortune", "Way home", "The passenger" or "The rejection".

Fragment of "The passenger"

Fragment of "Resolutions"

The process

It was one of the most recognized novels of the writer, although it was published in 1925, a year after his death. However, the author conceived it between 1914 and 1915. Kafka's unfinished account was about the arrest without apparent cause of the character Josef K.

The protagonist from the moment he was prosecuted plunged into a series of turbulent situations to get answers. The bank official went through a series of injustices, with which perhaps the writer wanted to reflect the situation of his time.

Characters

- Josef K.: is the protagonist of the story, he worked as a bank official. He had a promising future until misfortune came into his life.

- The deputy director: he was Josef's professional rival. The author raised him as a man of recognition and success within the society of that time.

- Fräulein Elsa: this character was that of a woman dedicated to prostitution, to whom the protagonist frequently resorted.

- Uncle Albert K.: He was Josef's uncle and for some time served as his protector. Through this character and his strained relationship with the protagonist, Kafka may have reflected the relationship he had with his father.

- Fräulein Bürstner: lived in the same neighborhood as K. and at some point they had an affair.

- Erna: she was a referential character, that is, her appearance in the play was given by mention and not by performance. She was a cousin of Josef K.

- Huld: He was the defense attorney for the accused protagonist. It is a reflection of success, wealth, experience and recognition.

Fragment

Metamorphosis

The German title of this famous Franz Kafka novel was Die verwandlung. It was the sudden transformation of a merchant into a huge insect. The writer evidenced the personal changes and the reactions of other people.

The protagonist of the novel was called Gregor Samsa, who was dedicated to the sale of fabrics. To everyone's amazement, the man turned into a giant cockroach overnight. Both he and his relatives had to adapt until finally his death was synonymous with rest and tranquility.

Fragment

Phrases

- «From a certain point there is no return. That's the point we have to reach".

- "Progress evaporates and leaves behind a trail of bureaucracy."

- "Literature is always an expedition into truth".

- «The gesture of bitterness of man is, frequently, only the petrified bewilderment of a child».

- «Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who retains the ability to see beauty never grows old.

- "Reflecting serenely, very serenely, is better than making desperate decisions."

- «Just don't overestimate what I have written; otherwise, what I still hope to write would become unattainable ».

- «The history of men is an instant between two steps of a walker».

- «To believe means to liberate the indestructible in oneself; or better: break free; or better yet: be indestructible; or better yet: be ».

- "Evil knows good, but good does not know evil."

References

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2. Franz Kafka. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
3. Franz Kafka. (S. f.). (N / a): History-biography. Recovered from: historia-biografia.com.
4. Tiquet, M. (2018). 24 extraordinary phrases by Franz Kafka that you should know. (N / a): Collective Culture. Recovered from: culturacolectiva.com.
5. Parra, R. (2018). Franz Kafka, summarized biography and works of the unique Czech writer. (N / a): About Español. Recovered from: aboutespanol.com.