La Métamorphose

Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

A German-speaking insurance clerk, Franz Kafka preferred to spend his time writing. One of the most important writers of the Modernist period, Kafka's writings went against the conventions of his time. His works are notable for the aspects of the absurd, the surreal, and the fantastic. Although he incorporates elements of realism in his writing, many of his texts and protagonists engage with the loss of all coherent structures and meanings. It is common for the character to come across as an alienated individual, almost shunned from society. Over the years, his writing style has developed an identity of its own and is, today, widely known as 'Kafkaesque'.

Kafka never intended to publish his works. In fact, he had ordered his friend to burn all of his unpublished works after his death. However, his friend published these works posthumously. Kafka's best-known works include The Trial, Metamorphosis, and The Castle.

Kafka's works, more often than not, show a bleak and hopeless world where a just society and governance is more a matter of imagination than reality. He compels his readers to question the monotony of the systems around them, and the structures of authority.