Biography

Franz Kafka was one of the major German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th century, whose unique body of writing - most of it incomplete, and published posthumously despite his wish that it be destroyed - has become iconic in Western literature. His most famous pieces include the short story The Metamorphosis and his unfinished novel The Trial. The adjective "kafkaesque" has come into common use to denote mundane yet absurd and surreal circumstances of the kind commonly found in Kafka's work.

Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. His father, Hermann Kafka, was described as a huge, selfish, overbearing businessman. Kafka struggled to come to terms with his domineering father throughout his entire life. Kafka's mother, Julie Lowy, was better educated than his father, but her relationship with Franz was just as strained. Kafka had three younger sisters, Gabriele ("Elli"), Valerie ("Valli"), and Kafka's favorite, Ottilie ("Ottla"), all of whom died in concentration camps.

Kafka learned German as his first language, but he was also almost fluent in Czech. Admitted to the Charles University of Prague, Kafka first studied chemistry, but switched after two weeks to law, offering a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, who would become a close friend throughout his life. Kakfa obtained the degree of Doctor of Law on June 18, 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts, experiences which certainly contributed to his writing.

In 1912, at the home of Max Brod, Kafka met Felice Bauer. Over the next five years they corresponded a great deal, met occasionally, and were engaged to be married twice. The relationship finally ended in 1917 when Kafka began to suffer from tuberculosis (and a terminal fear of commitment), which would require frequent convalescence.

Despite his fear of being perceived as both physically and mentally repulsive, he impressed others with his boyish, neat, and austere good looks, a quiet and cool demeanor, obvious intelligence and dry sense of humor. In the early 1920s he developed an intense relationship with Czech journalist and writer Milena Jesenská, who translated much of his work from German to Czech. Though married, Milena and Kafka wrote countless letters and eventually became lovers during the brief time they shared in the same city, about four days. The affair was doomed, as Milena refused to leave her husband, whom she loved.

In 1923, Kafka briefly moved to Berlin. There, he lived with Dora Diamant, a 19-year-old kindergarten teacher who became his lover. She brought new hope and a renewed interest in his Jewish roots. However, Kafka's tuberculosis worsened; he returned to Prague, then went to a sanatorium near Vienna for treatment, where he died on June 3, 1924, from starvation. The condition of Kafka's throat made it too painful to eat, and since intravenous therapy had not been developed, there was no way to feed him (a fate resembling that of the main character of A Hunger Artist).

Kafka published only a few short stories during his lifetime, a small part of his work, and never finished any of his novels. Prior to his death, he instructed Max to destroy all of his manuscripts. Brod overrode Kafka's instructions and instead oversaw the publication of most of his work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.