Kafka’s stories are often absurd and surreal. But their themes of alienation and powerlessness remain resonant

The Bohemian writer’s stories usually take strange and unexpected turns, but the emotions they invoke are extremely relatable

Franz Kafka, the German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short story writer, is a significant figure in 20th Century literature. His stories are often bizarre and surreal, which can be confusing or a bit off-putting to those new to his work. However, Kafka’s writings reflect his feelings of isolation and disconnection from the world around him and capture an intriguing combination of alienation, absurdity, and paradox.

Born to a Jewish family in Prague, Kafka had a strained relationship with his father, who he described as authoritarian and demanding. He studied law, which did not excite him, but was a field his father preferred due to its range of career opportunities. During his education, Kafka took German studies and art history classes and joined a student club that held literary events. His peers described him as shy and quiet, but a friend named Max Brod claimed that what he said was usually profound.

After completing his studies, he got a position in the insurance industry. But he was a prolific writer in his spare time, often writing late into the night. He even changed jobs so he would have more free time to write.

Much of Kafka’s writing focuses on the relationship between people and authority. His characters are often at the mercy of powerful, often anonymous forces. In novels like The Trial and The Castle, often considered his masterworks, they struggle to assert their individuality and agency when confronted by sinister institutions. Their situations are often illogical and confusing, and the characters are often at a loss to understand their predicaments.

Critics often interpret these stories as commentary on how people in modern society are caught in the throes of systems and structures they don’t understand, let alone control.

This idea also emerges in Kafka’s portrayal of oppressive and absurd bureaucracies. His protagonists are tiny figures trapped in the gears of complex, faceless machinery that seems designed to grind them down. The feeling of living in a world of dehumanising and alienating systems has connected with many people throughout the years.

Kafka’s work is also regularly referenced regarding the concept of existentialism. That philosophy explores ideas about the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence, which became major themes of writers in the 20th century. Albert Camus, a noted existentialist writer of the time, echoes Kafka’s writing, especially in The Stranger, which reflects similar themes of an individual’s powerlessness and alienation when faced with authority. Kafka’s work is also discussed in terms of its effect on psychology, particularly existential psychology.

Kafka’s writing has also significantly impacted the study of literature and the field as a whole. Readers around the world still find something relatable in his stories. Reflections of his particular style, themes, and ideas can also be seen in the works of many other notable writers. Argentinian writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges’s labyrinthine narrative structures seem like extensions of Kafka’s exploration of symbolism. The themes common to the writing of Austrian novelist, playwright and poet Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard have the same sense of alienation and powerlessness in the face of authority in his controversial works exploring death, social injustice, and human misery. Nobel Prize-winning British playwright Harold Pinter’s associations with the Theater of the Absurd and plays like The Caretaker and The Homecoming.

Despite the acclaim his works earn now, Kafka saw little of it in his lifetime. Few of his works were published by the time he died of tuberculosis at age 40. Two story collections, Contemplation and A Country Doctor, and short stories such as The Metamorphosis received little critical attention at the time. Kafka also struggled with self-doubt. He burned about 90 percent of all he wrote. In his will, he even instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy his unfinished works, including The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika.

Thankfully, Brod did not, and Kafka’s strange, challenging, and discomfiting stories continue to enchant readers with their distorted views of the world.

This article is part of Stripe, bdnews24.com's special publication focusing on culture and society from a youth perspective.