franz kafka (born prague july 3, 1883 – died near vienna june 3, 1924) was a czech-born, german-speaking writer. his best known works are "the metamorphosis" and the novels "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.