Franz Kafka, the tormented poet

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3, 1883. With the sensitivity of the poet he was, he soaked up the atmosphere of the city, learning to both love and fear it, and developed a feel for the absurdities of the modern era. In Prague, Kafka was influenced by the people and books he encountered, but also had an influence on those around him.

A man wakes up in the morning and discovers that he has turned into a repulsive, monstrous vermin. It's the end of his existence as a social being. He loses his job and is rejected by his family. Psychologically, however, the character, named Gregor Samsa, is just the same. In "Metamorphosis," Kafka poses the question: What makes a human a human?

One day, Josef K. is called to appear at court. But for what? He doesn't know. Josef K. only knows that the wheels of the complicated judicial system have begun to turn and he finds himself caught between them, hoping for answers. What he does learn is that the state is almighty, and he, the human, is tiny. Pictured is a scene from Orson Welles's 1962 film version of "The Trial" (Studiocanal).

Working as a surveyor, K. tries to enter a castle in the countryside. He's not permitted to enter the building itself, but is allowed to stay in the surrounding village. But why are the villagers so afraid of the castle owner, even though he doesn't harm them? "The Castle" is a novel about the psychology of fear. Pictured is a scene from the stage version, performed in Berlin's Deutsches Theater.

In Kafka's day, Prague was a European center of culture. It had been an important city in the Habsburg Empire and, around the year 1900, was a cosmopolitan, multicultural metropolis and hub of German and Czech literature. Many authors, like Kafka, were fluent in both languages. The city and its people influenced the poet both psychologically and intellectually.

Stately and self-confident, Herman Kafka (1852-1931) was a butcher by trade. In his family, his word was law. In his famous letter to his father from 1919, the young Kafka worked through his early childhood, referring to himself as "skinny, weak, thin" and his father as "strong, tall, wide." But the son rebelled in his writing, often turning figures of strong men into caricatures.

In what was then Bohemia, staunch nationalists would regularly gather for anti-Semitic demonstrations. That piqued the interest of some secular Jews, like Franz Kafka, in Theodor Herzl's idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. Kafka had planned a trip to Palestine, but had to cancel due to poor health. Instead he spent the last year of his life learning Hebrew.

Long summer afternoons on the Vitava River and long night in Prague's pubs - it was with his friend Franz Werfel that Kafka experienced his city's magic. Slightly older than Kafka, Werfel had already become a literary star. His friend's success didn't leave Kafka cold. "I hate W.," he wrote. "He is healthy, young and wealthy, and I am different in everything." Nevertheless, they remained friends.

In the summer of 1900, Kafka is numbed by Friedrich Nietzsche's texts and can hardly continue writing himself. But he overcomes his awe of the philosopher's work and takes up the themes of arrogance before the church and state, and the stiff educated middle class in his own writing.

"Almost broken nose. Blonde, somewhat straight, unattractive hair, strong chin." That's how Kafka described Felice Bauer in 1912, shortly after their first encounter. Nevertheless, she fascinated him and he would write 500 letters to her. They were engaged twice, but Kafka backed out both times. Finally, Bauer immigrated to the United States, far away from the noncomittal poet.

In his early life, Sören Kierkegaard watched a number of his family members die of various illnesses, which cast a bleak tone over his philosophy. Kafka was fascinated by Kierkegaard's work, noting in 1913 how similar it was to his own. Even their private lives had parallels: The Dane was also unhappily in love.

Kafka respected Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, writing in 1919 that "the unheard of" could be read about in his work. But the poet was doubtful that Freud's methods could actually heal people. Though modern psychology had shown results, "nothing has really happened yet," wrote Kafka.

Publisher Kurt Wolff worked with the young talent of his day. But he had a difficult time with Kafka. In 1912, Wolff published Kafka's first book of stories with a print run of 800 copies, but it didn't sell well. "Eleven books have been sold," noted Kafka several weeks after its release. "I bought 10 myself. I'd like to know who bought the eleventh."

Kafka's self-confidence was chronically low, but his friend Max Brod encouraged him time and again. Still, in 1924, the year he would die, Kafka asked his friend to burn all of his manuscripts. Brod decided not to fulfill his dying wish. Instead he published Kafka's works, rescuing some of the most important literary treasures of the 20th century.

Historian Saul Friedländer saw himself in Kafka's life story. Like the poet, Friedländer's father had also studied at Charles University in Prague. And like Kafka's sisters, the historian's parents had died in Nazi concentration camps. Friedländer wrote one of the most definitive biographies of the tormented poet, Franz Kafka.