Franz Kafka is a writer that has had a great influence on the literary world, but before becoming an eminent individual, he was fairly unknown. Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883. He was the first child of Julie and Hermann Kafka, a middle-class Jewish family. Kafka had siblings, most of which died in the Nazi concentration camps. He assumed the role of the “oldest brother” when two of his brothers died in their infant years. He didn’t have a strong relationship with his mother, but he’s relationship with his father is one that overshadowed not only his life, but his literature as well. If most of Kafka’s stories are analyzed, it may be concluded that most of his stories included detailed aspects of his life obscured by the use of metaphors.
The concern of never being recognized is a theme that appears quite often in Kafka’s writing. Again, The Metamorphosis and The Judgment both have aspects of it. The Metamorphosis depicts it through the use of the sister and her almost replacing Gregor. Gregor’s work and status in the family wasn’t appreciated, he became useless and his work unrecognized by them, which lead him to death. In The Judgment, we see the young man leaping off the bridge, and the traffic hiding his death, as it never happened.
This might have even been the case in Kafka’s own life, and strangely enough almost under his own wishes. Kafka is known to have started writing at an early age, but all of his earliest attempts were later destroyed. This was almost the same case with all his work. Kafka had a dying wish that his best friend Max Brod failed to execute. Kafka’s dying wish was that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned, and Brod in failing to do so allowed for Kafka’s legend to live and not end in it’s own fears, never being recognized.
Once in a while there will be a person that comes along and accomplishes much throughout their life but is never recognized until much later. Kafka was one of these people, he feared the fact that his life might have been lived for nothing, what he didn’t know is that he would become later be known as a writer with his own style and influences on the literacy world. He became a man known for his twisted depictions of his existential views, and the uncertainty in his humor. The term “Kafkaesque” immediately brings to mind the achievements and success of his life, and is almost set as a standard that many writers choose to follow.
