Franz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings. Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation. The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Livro muito bom! aliás são três livros muito bons. Metamorfose me deixou pensativo como poucos livros. Ele nos faz refletir sobre um dia virar um inseto monstruoso e afetar a todos que estão a minha volta. Eu já vi vários casos e é muito triste. Quem leu vai entender do que estou falando. O Processo é uma obra de arte da litetatura mundial, muito avançado e complexo. Acho que nunca li um livro com tantas notas de rodapé... Kafka utilizou muitos elementos da sua vida pessoal nesse livro. O seu climax, na cena final, me lembrou muito o filme "Não Me Abandone Jamais" de 2010 no que tange ao sentimento dos protagonistas. A Carta ao Pai precisa ser lido por todos os pais e mães. Quase uma autobiografia curta revelada em uma carta. É isso, incrível.
Eigentlich hatte ich gehofft, dass mir das Buch einen Einblich in Kafkas Schreibstil gibt, aber die meiste Zeit war ich beim Lesen einfach nur verwirrt. Auch die Zeichnungen haben mir nicht besonders gut gefallen und oft habe ich nicht mal den Zusammenhang verstanden.
Trotzdem werde ich mich noch mal an Kafka versuchen. Habe ihr vielleicht Tipps? Ich würde sonst mit "Der Prozess" anfangen :)
Não é um típico livro ilustrado. Na maioria das páginas parece um sketchbook mesmo, bem visceral. Algumas ilustrações são interpretações mais diretas dos textos do Kafka, mas a maioria vai além disso. Só senti falta d"A Colônia Penal", um dos melhores textos do autor tcheco. Enfim, vale a pena dar uma olhada neste livro :)
"O verdadeiro caminho passa por uma corda que não está esticada no alto, mas bem rente ao chão. Parece mais destinada a fazer tropeçar que a ser percorrida."
"O animal arranca o chicote de seu senhor e chicoteia a si mesmo para se tornar senhor, mas não sabe que isso é apenas uma fantasia, produzida por um novo nó na correia."
Para além de trechos de textos clássicos de Kafka, como Carta ao pai, O processo e O castelo, "Meu Kafka" contém também alguns de seus aforismos, como os reproduzidos acima, e que são tão bons ou melhores que os trechos dos clássicos. Além, é claro, dos lindos desenhos e ilustrações de Stefane Harjes.