Anatine
Franz Kafka Profile

Franz Kafka
Keynotes

  Born:  Prague, 3rd July 1883.

  Died:  Kierling, Austria, 3rd June 1924.

  Czech novelist and short-story writer.

  Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883, the son of Hermann Kafka, a wealthy businessman, and Julie (née Löwy).  He had two older brothers who both died in infancy, and three sisters who survived him, but were all killed in concentration camps during the second World War.

  Although Jewish, Kafka and his family were not orthodox.  Kafka was educated at German schools, and grew up speaking German.  His works were all written in German.

  From 1889 to 1893 he attended a German elementary school in Prague, and from 1893 to 1901 he studied at the German Staatgymnasium.

  Kafka studied Law at the German-speaking Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague from 1901, and gained his degree in 1906, after which he spent a year training at the Prague Law Courts.

  In 1902 he met Max Brod, who became his best friend and later edited his works for publication.

  Kafka started work for an insurance company in 1908, and during the same year eight of his prose pieces were published.  Three more works were published the following year, and five the year after that.  In 1910 he also began writing his diaries which were later published by Max Brod.

  In 1912 he met Felicie (Felice) Bauer, a Jewish girl from Berlin to whom he was to become engaged twice.

  In 1917 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

  During 1919 he was engaged briefly to Julie Wohryzek.

  He met Milena Jesenska-Pollak in 1920, and corresponded with her for some time, before their relationship came to an end in 1922.

  In 1923 he met Dora Dymant, the daughter of an orthodox rabbi, and Kafka lived with her in Berlin for a while, before returning to Prague because of his worsening illness.

  Franz Kafka died in 1924 in a nursing home in Kierling where he had been nursed through his last months by Dora.  He is buried in Prague.

  He left instructions for his unpublished work to be destroyed after his death, but Max Brod saved the manuscripts and later published them.

Works with publication dates:

Stories:

Meditation (1913)
The Judgement (1913)
Metamorphosis (1916)
In the Penal Colony (1919)
A Country Doctor (1919)
The Burrow (1923)
The Hunger Artist (1924)

Novels (all published posthumously):

The Trial (1925)
The Castle (1926)
America (1927)

Links

The Kafka Project
http://www.kafka.org/

Franz Kafka Pictures and Biography
http://www.kafka-franz.com/

The Millennium Library - Franz Kafka
http://www.millenniumlibrary.co.uk/millib/reference/
notes.php?entry=Franz%20Kafka&fromdb=2

Guardian Unlimited - Franz Kafka
http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,-96,00.html

Franz Kafka
http://www.franzkafka.cz/anglicky/index.htm

Gates to Jewish Heritage - Franz Kafka
http://www.jewishgates.com/file.asp?File_ID=317

Jewish Virtual Library - Franz Kafka
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Kafka.html

Wikipedia - Franz Kafka
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka

A selection of books by Franz Kafka available from W.H. Smith:
 

The Trial  (hardback)

The Castle  (paperback)

The Castle  (hardback)

Man Who Disappeared (Amerika)  (paperback)

"Metamorphosis" and Other Stories  (paperback)

"Great Wall of China" and Other Short Works  (paperback)

The Hunger Artist  (hardback)

Penal Colony Stories and Short Pieces  (hardback)

A Country Doctor  (hardback)

Letters to Friends, Family and Editors  (paperback)

Letters to Milena  (paperback)

Contemplation  (hardback)

Diaries of Franz Kafka  (paperback)

Diaries: Volume II  (paperback)

Letters to Ottla and the Family  (hardback)

Collected Stories  (hardback)

Letters to Felice  (paperback)

Dearest Father  (hardback)