Franz Kafka: His Life and Novels

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The short stories and novels of Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) feature frighteningly complex and weird yet ludicrous plots. His writing was influenced by the time and place in which he lived and events in his personal life. Kafka adopted the self-expression writing style of contemporary writers and projected general and symbolic expressions in his works to create a three-dimensional rapport with his audience. His works express the dehumanization and oppression of totalitarian society that was the hallmark of his time. Influential personal life events include an excessive obsession with professional career, self-engineered destruction of his love life, continuous conflict with his father and a wistful wish to live in another country like America where people enjoyed freedom and fundamental rights.

Franz Kafka, , was a Czech-born, German-speaking author of short stories and novels. His writings are characterized by frighteningly complex and weird, yet ludicrous plots. ‘Metamorphosis’ is arguably the best among his short stories, while the only 3 novels he wrote are ‘The Trial,’ ‘The Castle’ and ‘Amerika.’ Although all of Kafka’s writings are in German, he grew up, studied, worked and wrote in Bohemian Prague, the place in which his grave presently lies.

Kafka’s writing was predominantly influenced by two factors – the environment of the time and place in which he lived, and the events in his personal life.

The long-drawn political and religious struggle between the Catholics and Protestants ended in victory for the former in 1620. In the process, Bohemia was badly destroyed, economically exploited, and Bohemians were forcibly converted to Catholicism. The normal growth of literature ground to a halt for over 200 years after 1620. Its revival began in 1848 when writers cultivated the style of self-expression, first in poetry, then short stories and finally in novels. Novel writers portrayed the deplorable living conditions of the common Bohemian people, and analyzed the dissatisfaction and frustration of life during their time. Between 1918 and 1939, writers adapted their style, using their narratives as a means of putting forward general and symbolic expressions.

Although he wrote in German, Kafka follows the style of contemporary Czech writers by projecting general and symbolic expressions in his writing. He uses his narratives to forge a three-dimensional connection with his readers: emotional, psychological and physical. It is no wonder, therefore, that he is frequently called ‘psychoanalytical Kafka’.

In general, Kafka’s writings reflect the intense fears of dehumanization, tediously frustrating bureaucrats and stifling oppression by a totalitarian society that was the hallmark of his time. In ‘The Castle,’ the mysterious castle that dominates and controls the village represents the totalitarian society that controls the life of the common Bohemian people. ‘Metamorphosis’ is steeped in remarkable high anxiety of psychological, sociological and existential nature that is a direct reflection of the angst prevalent among the people those days. ‘Trial’ is charged with brooding suspicion, worry and persecution that also reflect the restrictive living conditions of the Bohemian people during Kafka’s lifetime.

‘Trial’ reflects the persecution of people particularly well. A respected bank official is arrested one day just because “someone must have slandered him” (Kafka, 1999, p.3). Like Kafka’s other story characters, punishment is inflicted on Josef K. even before he has broken the law. Although Josef continues to steadfastly profess his innocence, the never-ending investigations of court officials keep going on and on. In the end, Josef fails to obtain an acquittal for his mysterious crime from the faulty court system “that was grounded from its very beginnings in secrecy” (Kafka, 1999, p.117) and “dies like a dog” (Kafka, 1999, p.231).

An important characteristic of the totalitarian society during those days was that it was male-dominated. Men extended their domination over women, frequently treating them as their personal property. This attitude is reflected in many of Kafka’s works. For example, in ‘The Country Doctor’ , the physician does not intervene strongly enough even when the groom proceeds to have brutal sexual intercourse with Rose.

Several events in Kafka’s life are reflected in his writing.

The dominant theme in Kafka’s novels is the hero’s deeply distressing drawback in situations demanding to choose between personal gratification and professional duty. This theme was spawned by events in his personal life where his pathological concentration on his professional career made him neglect his beloved Felice Bauer, break up their engagement on two occasions, and fully knowing his personal failing, make their separation irrevocably full and final by warning her it would only involve ‘a monastic life side by side with a man who is fretful, melancholy, un-talkative, dissatisfied and sickly’. In ‘The Country Doctor,’ Rose replaces Felice, the doctor replaces Kafka and the medical professional replaces the literary profession, whereas the reasons and events that follow are nearly the same as in Kafka’s life. To emphasize the personal connection, the novel’s autobiographical ‘I’ emphasizes Kafka’s attempt to narrate his own life through the character of the doctor.

The second personal life event was Kafka’s constantly thinking about his lost love , constantly longing for her and cursing the mental handicap that left him bereft of her love and companionship. Although he later fell in love first with Mileni Jesenska, and later with Dora Diamant, while frequently visiting prostitutes in between, he could never get over Felice. In ‘The Country Doctor’ the physician too is constantly reminded about Rose in whatever he comes across and constantly longs for her.

The third personal life event was the constant conflict between Kafka and his father Hermann. The latter was a domestic tyrant who bitterly opposed his son’s passion for literature and writing. Being timid and shy by nature, the constant intimidation and opposition served to make him despondent and pessimistic, as he tried in vain to understand what ‘crime’ he was committing by becoming dedicated to literature and writing. He also regretted not receiving his father’s love for the rest of his life. ‘The Judgment’ is a straightforward reflection of Kafka’s conflict with his father. In ‘Letter to Father’ he plaintively tries to express the feelings created by interacting with his father: “My wishing was all about you; all I did there, after all, was to bemoan what I could not bemoan upon your breast”.

The last personal life feeling was one that prevailed throughout most of his life: a wistful desire to get away from the suppressing society that enveloped him and lives a life of freedom in a land where people were treated equally and granted fundamental rights and freedom. Kafka’s last novel ‘Amerika’ projects his wistful thoughts. It is not surprising that he died soon after writing the novel, as it shows he had given up on ever living a dignified life in his present environment. Fittingly, the novel’s protagonist, 17-year old Karl Rossman is the conduit through whom Kafka , gets a rebirth with a full name in a new country.

Franz Kafka died in 1924. All his novels were published posthumously by his good friend Max Brod. The most fitting tribute to the great writer came from his former lover Milena Jesenska, who wrote that Franz Kafka’s writing reflected “the irony and prophetic vision of a man condemned to see the world with such blinding clarity that he found it unbearable and went to his death”.

References

Eulik, Jan. (N.d). The Czech Novel. Web.

Franz Kafka. (2005). Web.

Kafka, Franz. (1999). The Trial. USA: Schoken Books Inc.

Merriman, C.D. (2008). Franz Kafka: Biography. Web.

Soman, Ebey. (2008). Literary Analysis: The Country Doctor, by Franz Kafka. Web.

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Franz Kafka: His Life and Novels

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