Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and short story writer born in 1883 in Prague. He came from a middle-class family, was well-educated and received a law degree, but worked an insurance job he disliked. He had difficult relationships and never married. Kafka struggled with illnesses throughout his life and died of tuberculosis in 1924. He was influenced by writers like Kleist and in turn influenced magical realism and existentialist literature. However, most of his writing was unpublished during his life and was saved from being destroyed by his friend Max Brod.

1. FRANZ KAFKA
BORN: July 3, 1883
DECEASED: June 3, 1924

2. FAMILY
- Son of Hermann and Julie
Kafka
- Middle-class German-speaking
Jewish family
- Eldest of six children
- Two younger brothers (died in
infancy)
- Three younger sisters (died in
concentration camps)
- Father independent retailer of
fancy goods/accessories
- Mother well-
educated, managed father’s
business
- Father described is
tyrannical, abusive

3. CHILDHOOD & EDUCATION
- Born in Prague, capital of modern day Czech
Republic
- Children by governesses & servants
- Attended Deutschule in Prague, 1889 – 1893
- Sent to German schools, social advancement
- Following secondary school, attended Charles
Ferdinand University
- Chemistry to Law
- Met Max Brod, lifelong friend
- Obtained degree of Doctor of Law, 1906

5. ADULTHOOD
- 1907 – 1908 Brief employment in
Italian insurance
- Quit due to heavy schedule
- 1908 – 1922 Worker’s Accident
Insurance for the Kingdom of
Bohemia, “bread job”
- Retired due to ill health
- Introduced to Felice Bauer by Max
Brod
- Moves to Berlin in 1923 with Dora
Diamant, a teacher

7. RELIGION
- Father stifled Jewish heritage
- Speculated as a Zionist
- Influenced by late lover Dora
Diamant
- Talmud

8. SICKNESS, HOMECOMING, D
EATH
- Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1917
- After retirement, supported by family and
sister, Ottla
- Clinical depression, social
anxiety, migraines, insomnia, constiption,
boils, etc.
- Naturopathic treatments
- Returned to Prague as TB worsened
- Went to Dr. Hoffman sanatorium
- Died on June 3, 1924 of starvation
- Buried in

10. KAFKA’S WORK
Max Brod
- Published few short stories in his lifetime
- The Judgement
- The Metamorphosis
- In the Penal Colony
- A Hunger Artist
- Never finished a novel
- Burned 90 percent of work (with
Diamant)
- Left everything to Brod to be burned
- Most work published
posthumously, including The Trail and
Amerika
- Gestapo confiscated 20 notebooks 35
letters, still unfound
- Brod’s secretary

11. KAFKAESQUE
- Strange settings and situations
- Confused protagonists overwhelmed
by seedy, illogical characters
- Often
absurd, bizarre, metaphysical, and
existential
- Influenced by writer von Kleist
- Has influenced writers and artists such
as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (magical
realism), Camus, Sartre, Orson
Welles, David Lynch, and Tom Waits

12. HONOR AND LEGACY
- Never received any awards
- Franz Kafka Museum in Prague
- Franz Kafka Prize in Prague

13. http://www.egs.edu/library/franz-kafka/biography/
http://www.themodernword.com/kafka/kafka_biography.html
http://www.biography.com/people/franz-kafka-9359401
http://www.kafka.org/index.php?biography
http://www.kafka-online.info/franz-kafka-biography.htm
SOURCES