Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German fiction writer, considered one of the greatest literary minds of the 20th century. He wrote novels and short stories, the most famous of which is Metamorphosis, written in 1915. His writing style was considered visionary and has been called "nightmarishly complex and bizarre yet absurd and impersonal."http://www.online-literature.com/franz-kafka/ The literary term Kafkaesque is now used to describe similarly complex and distorting works. All Kafka's works were published in German.

Kafka grew up with an ill-tempered father, and he claimed to be deeply affected by his father's demanding character. He explained their troubled relationship in Letter to His Father and alluded to it in many of his writings.

Kafka attended Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague and earned a doctorate degree in 1906. In college he met Max Brod, who would be his best friend and translator throughout life. Brod was responsible for the posthumous publication of Kafka's three known novels, The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika. Kafka worked several jobs to support his writing throughout the years, including work as an insurance officer and a factory manager.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka He didn't achieve fame for his writing until after his death.

Kafka's family was Jewish, but he eventually declared himself a Socialist atheist, influenced by Nietzsche and Darwin.http://www.online-literature.com/franz-kafka/ He was involved with many women throughout his life but never married. Kafka died in 1924 from complications from tuberculosis.http://www.online-literature.com/franz-kafka/ The Franz Kafka Museum in Prague, Czech Republic honors Kafka and his work, and the Franz Kafka Prize is awarded to authors by the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prague.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka_Prize

"A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood."http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/franz_kafka.html

"Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate... but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins."http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/franz_kafka.html

"Dread of night. Dread of not-night."http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/franz_kafka.html

• Description of a Struggle (1905)

• Wedding Preparations in the Country (1908)

• Contemplation (1912)

• The Judgment (1912)

• The Stoker

• In the Penal Colony (1914)

• The Village Schoolmaster (1915)

• Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor (1915)

• The Metamorphosis (1915)

• The Warden of the Tomb (1917)

• The Hunter Gracchus (1917)

• The Great Wall of China (1917)

• A Report to an Academy (1917)

• Jackals and Arabs (1917)

• A Country Doctor (1919)

• A Message from the Emperor (1919)

• An Old Manuscript (1919)

• The Refusal (1920)

• A Hunger Artist (1924)

• Investigations of a Dog (1922)

• A Little Woman (1923)

• First Sorrow (1922)

• The Burrow (1924)

• Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk (1924)

• The Trial (1925)

• The Castle (1926)

• Amerika (1927)