Franz Kafka And The Philosophy Of “Kafkaesque”

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Franz Kafka.

That name might ring a bell.

Nowadays, he’s often regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century.

And his works still strike a tune with modern readers.

Perhaps more than ever.

He is known for his uniquely dark, disorienting, and surreal writing style.

A style and quality so unique to him that anything that resembles it has come to be known and referred to as “Kafkaesque”.

I don’t know about you, but if your work is able to create its own genre — you’re doing something right.

But in order to understand his writing and the Kafkaesque philosophy, we need to understand his origin story.

Kafka was born in Prague in 1883.

His father was a macho man named Hermann.

And his mother was a woman named Julie.

Hermann was a high flying businessman who through sheer force of will managed to rise from the bottom to the top of Czech society.

This feat is very difficult to accomplish now, let alone in the 1800s in Eastern Europe.

Hermann Kafka was a very aggressive Type-A personality.

Because of how hard he worked to achieve the things he did, he wanted his son Franz to follow in his footsteps.

He had his own idea of what a successful man looked like, and he intended to mold Franz into that image.

The problem is, Franz Kafka was nothing like his father.

He was born a small, anxious, and sickly boy.

And unfortunately, this is how he would remain for the rest of his life.

Hermann hated this.

Franz was nothing like he wanted him to be and he decided to punish him for it.

Franz’s childhood was a nightmare.

Because he didn’t live up to Hermann’s lofty expectations, he was turned into a psychological (and possibly even physical) punching bag.

Franz couldn’t help the way he was.

But his father didn’t care.

Throughout his teenage years, Franz became obsessed with writing.

Many believe he developed this urge to write as a way to deal with his increasing sense of anxiety, guilt, and self hatred.

Of course, his father didn’t allow him to pursue writing.

After all, a writer did not fit the billing when it came to being successful.

Screw what Franz wanted to do.

Hermann was the boss and he forced him to become a lawyer instead.

During his time studying law at universtiy, Kafka continued to write.

And while doing so he met one of his only real friends, Max Brod.

Max was another writer and he successfully convinced Kafka to publish his first three collections of work.

I use the word convinced for a reason.

You see, Kafka never believed his works were worthy of publication.

It took a lot of persuasion on the part of Max to help Kafka take the leap.

But once his work was published — they bombed.

Barely any copies were sold.

To Kafka, this simply reinforced the self-limiting narrative that already existed in his head:

He wasn’t good enough to write.

After this disappointment, Kafka would get a job in a law office, and eventually find himself working for an insurance company.

The insurance company is where Kafka discovered a lot of insights around the world.

Here, Kafka would realise just how absurd and complex large bureaucratic systems were.

He hated every second of his time there.

Who could blame him?

He was forced to work long hours.

He would routinely work overtime without receiving any additional pay.

His colleagues were all cogs in a machine with no sense of responsibility.

He was miserable.

So what did he do?

He wrote.

And it was during his time at the hellish insurance company that Kafka created some of his seminal works:

  • The Trial
  • The Castle
  • and America

But although he was sitting on a bunch of literary classics, he didn’t try to publish any of them.

As I mentioned before, Kafka didn’t think his works were worthy of being published.

His imposter syndrome was unbearable.

And I’m sure the abusive voice of his father was constantly ringing in his ears, telling him he wasn’t good enough.

I wish I could tell you this story has a happy ending.

But it doesn’t.

Kafka stayed at the insurance company for the majority of his life.

Although he did keep writing, he eventually died of tuberculosis in 1924.

During his life, Kafka never published any more of his writing.

Meaning, he never experienced any of the success or recognition for his works.

Just imagine it.

At the time, Kafka thought his stories were rubbish.

He died believing he was a failure and that he hadn’t produced anything of value.

If only he’d known how influential his works truly were.

But he didn’t.

So much so that on his deathbed, he even ordered his friend Max to burn all of his manuscripts as soon as he died.

Ethics aside, Max made the right decision to ignore Kafka’s instructions.

Kafka wasn’t thinking straight and he was operating based on his own biases.

Just because he failed to recognise his own genius, doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

The fact that I’m writing this article exactly 100 years after his death highlights the importance of his work.

After Kafka’s death, Max spent the next year organising and publishing the manuscripts Franz had left behind.

And over the next decade, Kafka would become known as one of the most important writers of the 20th century.

Just think about it.

How many other Kafka’s have existed over the course of human history?

People who had a great deal to offer the world, but did nothing out of their own feelings of inadequacy.

The frightening thing is, this number is probably massive.

Imagine how much different the world would be if everyone in it was free to share their gifts.

Fortunately, Kafka’s work has not been forgotten.

And as a result, we can now begin to discuss the concept of Kafkaesque.

Generally, the term Kafkaesque tends to refer to the bureaucratic nature of human systems.

Whether they be governments or massive corporate businesses.

On Google it’s defined as something:

Extremely unpleasant, frightening, and confusing.

All things which Kafka explores in his novels.

Especially confusion.

His stories follow characters who are trapped in complex systems, unaware of what the hell is going on.

In The Trial, the protagonist Joseph K’s life is turned upside down when he’s randomly arressted at his home.

The officers don’t tell him what he crime he committed.

From there, he’s forced to endure a never-ending trial where he never even finds out about what he’s being accussed of.

The court is corrupt and disordered and by the end of the whole thing, K is found guilty.

Of what?

He has no idea.

In another one of his more popular stories, Metamorphosis, the protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up to a shock:

He’s become a bug.

Prior to this weird event, Gregor had all the usual problems that were plaguing him.

He hates his job.

His boss is a difficult pain in the ass.

And his family doesn’t appreciate what he does, and yet they keep demanding more.

All of this was hard enough when Gregor was a human.

But as a bug?

Life becomes even more complicated.

The book follows the trials and tribulations of his transformation.

All while the people around him don’t care that he’s turned into an insect.

All they care about is what he can do for them, bug or not.

Both stories focus on protagonists who are helpless.

They’re thrust into sudden and absurd circumstances without any explanations.

And despite doing their best, there’s no way they can overcome their predicaments.

They are outmatched by the arbitrary obstacles they face.

Mainly because they have no idea what’s happening and don’t have any control.

It’s impossible to not see the parallels between Kafka’s work and his life.

Clearly he felt as though he was trapped in situations that were out of his control.

Whether it be at his soul-crushing job or in the presence of his bossy father, Kafka was always helpless.

In this sense, it’s easy to see how he was capable of writing these incredible stories.

Although they are pieces of fiction, Kafka’s work was easy.

All he had to do was put pen to paper and describe how he was feeling.

Another fair interpretation is that Kafka’s books are commentaries on the human condition.

Specifically, the constant search for answers over common existential problems.

All humans suffer from irrational problems.

Some of these problems are impossible to get rid of.

Whether it be anxiety, guilt or absurdity.

People have been trying to find solutions to these problems forever, and yet they still persist.

But the most important part about Kafka’s work, even in the face of despairing circumstances, his characters never give up.

Despite their struggles, they keep on fighting.

They don’t try to understand why they’re in this mess.

They just try to work their way through it.

They do this even though their efforts don’t lead to any resolutions.

Perhaps Kafka is suggesting that the struggle to find true solace is both inescapable and impossible.

As humans, we’re constantly at war with the weirdness of the world.

But ironically, we only serve to strengthen the struggle we are trying to resolve by trying to resolve the unresolvable.

And in this sense, it’s almost as if we want the struggle.

Without it, what would be the point in anything?

Many people say the joy of success lies in the journey as opposed to the outcome.

But the truth is, who knows what Kafka was thinking?

His work is full of different interpretations, I’m just outlining a few that stood out to me.

In truth, only Kafka will ever know exactly what his work meant.

Who knows?

Maybe he never intended them to have such deep meaning.

It could just be that he was using writing as a therapeutic outlet, where he was describing how he was feeling.

Whatever the case, his work has stood the test of time 100 years after his death, and will continue to live on well into the future.

His stories have helped readers around the world feel less alone in their own Kafkaesque experiences.

I had one just the other day, waiting in line at a Turkish immigration office.

But that’s a story for another day.

Kafka’s own story isn’t that uncommon.

Plenty of people have cruel fathers.

Plenty of people have had dreams that were brutally crushed by reality.

And many others have left this world early due to unfortunate circumstances.

Kafka was every one of these things.

His work wasn’t considered great because it described something very unique.

Instead, it resonated because it describes something common in a profound way.

I hope you found this article on Kafka interesting.

Thank you for reading,

Godfrey

PS. If you’d like to learn how to write online, click this link.

You’ll get free access to my content guide.

You might not become as good a writer as Kafka, but at least you would have tried.

You might have some genius that’s hiding away inside your head.

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