What is Franz Kafka?
[[File:Kafka1906.jpg|thumb|Franz Kafka in 1906.]] '''Franz Kafka''' (born [[Prague]] July 3, 1883 – died near [[Vienna]] June 3, 1924) was a [[Czech Republic|Czech]]-born, [[German language|German]]-speaking [[writer]]. His best known works are ''The Metamorphosis'' and the [[novel]]s ''The Trial'' and ''The Castle''. Not much of his work was published during his lifetime. He asked his friend to make sure that all his writings which were not published, including his three novels, would be destroyed when he died. Fortunately his friend did not destroy them, and they were published after Kafka’s death. Kafka’s writings are about the frightening world around him which he often did not understand. A typical situation in his books might be someone who has gone somewhere to take a message, but he does not know what the message is or who it is for. The people he meets confuse him even more. Sometimes, when people find themselves in strange, nightmarish situations like this, they are described as '''''Kafkaesque''''' situations. == His life == Kafka was born into a [[middle-class]] [[Jewish]] family. His father was a [[merchant]]. He was very strict and unkind to his family. Kafka’s stories often have fathers who are very brutal and unkind. Kafka spent most of his life living at home. He never married or became free from his parents. He felt that he had no will of his own. He wrote about people who are dominated by some mysterious power. He found it difficult to make friends, he hated his job and everyone around him. He often felt that he belonged nowhere. He was German-speaking but lived in a Czech-speaking country ([[Bohemia]], part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], now part of the Czech Republic). He was different because he was Jewish, but he did not become part of the Jewish community either. He said that he was a [[socialist]] and an [[atheist]], but although he was interested in politics he never took part in political activity. He supported Czechs who wanted to rule their own country and let their culture flo