A century after his death, Franz Kafka remains a towering figure in literature, influencing modern culture in ways both profound and unexpected
It is a curious paradox that Franz Kafka, one of the most enigmatic and demanding writers of the 20th century, has become a global literary icon, despite being relatively unknown in his lifetime. Kafka, who passed away on 3rd June 1924, now looms large in popular culture. His dark, unsettling stories have permeated everything from literature and cinema to comic books, video games, and even social media. His work, which wrestles with existential dilemmas, continues to resonate with readers who find their own anxieties and uncertainties mirrored in his writing.
As W. H. Auden once suggested, Kafka’s influence on our age is akin to the impact Shakespeare and Dante had on theirs. A century after his death, Kafka’s legacy persists, not just as a writer, but as a symbol of the alienation and absurdity that seem to define modern existence.
Kafka: The Man Behind the Myth
Much of the fascination with Kafka arises from his biography. He lived a life of profound internal conflict, juggling the responsibilities of his day job as a lawyer with the consuming demands of his writing. This “terrible double-life,” as he described it, was marked by a profound sense of alienation. He was torn between his desire for a family life and his belief that he was “consumed” by literature. His crippling perfectionism meant that only a fraction of his work was published during his lifetime, with the rest ordered to be destroyed upon his death—an instruction his friend Max Brod famously ignored.
Kafka’s posthumous fame owes much to this mythology of the tortured genius. His writings are often seen as prophetic, offering a vision of totalitarian regimes, bureaucratic madness, and surveillance that eerily prefigures the darkest aspects of the 20th century. Yet, such interpretations can overshadow the richness and complexity of his work, which remains as unsettling and beguiling today as when it was first written.
The Trial: Kafka’s Masterpiece
One of Kafka’s most famous works, The Trial, perfectly encapsulates his themes of alienation and absurdity. It tells the story of Josef K., an ordinary man who is arrested and prosecuted without knowing why. He struggles to navigate a mysterious legal system that remains indifferent to his fate. His execution at the novel’s end is as arbitrary as his arrest. Kafka’s portrayal of faceless bureaucracy and the helplessness of the individual is as relevant today as it was when first written.
The publication history of The Trial is as peculiar as the novel itself. Max Brod, Kafka’s literary executor, saved the manuscript from destruction, arranging and editing it for posthumous publication. Since then, different editions have emerged, each attempting to stay truer to Kafka’s original intentions. Modern critical editions, such as those by Reiner Stach and Roland Reuss, reveal the fragmented, unfinished nature of the novel, reminding us of Kafka’s meticulous yet perpetually incomplete creative process.
The Scholarly Rediscovery of Kafka
Kafka’s influence extends beyond his literary works. Scholars and critics have long sought to decipher the deeper meanings behind his surreal stories. T. W. Adorno famously advocated for a “literal” reading of Kafka, encouraging readers to take his words at face value rather than seeking hidden symbolism. This approach, which shifts the focus back to Kafka’s craftsmanship, has informed much recent scholarship.
One of the most ambitious projects in Kafka studies is Reiner Stach’s multi-volume edition of Kafka’s works, which aims to present a more faithful representation of his writing process. In Stach’s edition of The Trial, for example, a single first-person sentence near the novel’s end—previously thought to be a mistake—is retained, adding a layer of emotional intensity to Josef K.’s final moments.
A Life of Reading and Writing
Kafka was as much a reader as he was a writer, and his literary influences permeate his work. As Andreas Kilcher explores in Kafka’s Workshop, Kafka’s creative process was deeply intertwined with his reading habits. Kafka was particularly drawn to authors like Dostoevsky, Flaubert, and Kleist, whose works shaped his literary vision. His voracious reading extended beyond fiction, encompassing philosophy, psychoanalysis, and contemporary politics. This wider intellectual context, which Kilcher terms the “great narratives of modernity,” helped shape Kafka’s view of the world, with his fiction acting as an echo chamber for the ideas of his time.
Translating Kafka
Kafka’s work has been translated into countless languages, and his translators face the daunting task of preserving the complexity of his prose. In his recent translation of The Metamorphosis—or The Transformation as he retitles it—Mark Harman seeks to capture Kafka’s precise use of language.
Translation is no easy feat, especially when grappling with the deliberate ambiguities and multiple meanings embedded in Kafka’s German. As Harman explains, the challenge is to retain Kafka’s austere yet strangely approachable style while ensuring that the tension between the ordinary and the absurd remains intact.
Kafka’s Enduring Appeal
What is it about Kafka that continues to captivate readers a hundred years after his death? Part of his enduring appeal lies in the universality of his themes. Kafka’s stories, with their focus on the absurdity of modern life, speak to the anxieties of living in an increasingly impersonal world. His characters are trapped in systems they cannot understand, much like many of us today. The sense of powerlessness and alienation that pervades his work feels as fresh and relevant now as it did in the early 20th century.
Kafka’s work also resonates because of its resistance to easy interpretation. His stories invite multiple readings, offering new insights with each return. Whether read as an allegory of bureaucratic tyranny, a reflection of existential dread, or simply a surreal dreamscape, Kafka’s fiction continues to intrigue, challenge, and inspire.
Conclusion
A hundred years after his death, Franz Kafka’s work remains as vital and unsettling as ever. His stories, with their dark humour and nightmarish logic, continue to reflect the complexities of modern life. As scholars and readers alike return to his work, Kafka’s legacy as one of the most important writers of the 20th century remains secure. His influence stretches far beyond literature, permeating popular culture in ways he could never have imagined. Kafka may not have lived to see his fame, but his presence is unmistakable, a haunting reminder of the enduring power of the written word.