Born in Prague on July 3, 1883 in a family of Ashkenazi Jews established in high society, as Kafka grew up he developed his literary career in German, since he belonged to the German-speaking minority of Bohemia, at that time still under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He studied Law and received his doctorate in 1906, and some time after getting involved with literary work he decided to focus on writing his creations on paper.

In 1912 he published the anthology Contemplation and in 1915 his famous work The Metamorphosis was published.

In his writing, associated with expressionism and existentialism, it is said that the theme of the absurd, strange characters, elaborate and precise language, and other marks that give it uniqueness stand out.

Kafka fell ill with tuberculosis and wrote many of his stories while convalescing.

Scholars describe his literature and personality as full of mysteries, routines and chiaroscuros.

He bequeathed many creations to the world, including In the Penitentiary Colony, The Trial and The Castle or Letter to the Father, some of which were made into films.

He was a pioneer in the mixture of realism and the fantastic, and his work managed to influence literary figures such as Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez.

During his lifetime, Kafka was little read, and he even asked that History forget him, but today his fame is universal.

Most of his work remained unpublished until the time of his death. Shortly before he died, he asked his best friend, Max Brod, to destroy a suitcase containing all of his texts. But his comrade, together with the author’s last companion, Dora Diamant, decided to intervene in the publication of his work, which ended in international success.

ef/

(Taken from 4ta Pared, Orbe cultural supplement)