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Franz Kafka: 1883-1924

Franz Kafka: 1883-1924. His Life and Work. Kafka’s Parents. Julie Löwy. Hermann Kafka. 1852-1931. 1856-1934. Kafka’s Sisters. Valli, Elli, Ottla. Kafka, aged 10; Valli (left) and Elli (middle). Kafka’s Sisters. Gabriella (Elli). Valerie (Valli). Ottilia (Ottla). 1892-1943. 1890-1942.

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Franz Kafka: 1883-1924

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  1. Franz Kafka: 1883-1924 His Life and Work

  2. Kafka’s Parents Julie Löwy Hermann Kafka 1852-1931 1856-1934

  3. Kafka’s Sisters Valli, Elli, Ottla

  4. Kafka, aged 10; Valli (left) and Elli (middle)

  5. Kafka’s Sisters Gabriella (Elli) Valerie (Valli) Ottilia (Ottla) 1892-1943 1890-1942 1889-1941

  6. Kafka and Ottla, 1914

  7. Altstädter Deutschen Staatsgymnasium Imitating the German-speaking elite of Prague, Kafka’s father sent his son to German schools

  8. At Ferdinand-Karls University • Intended to study philosophy, against his father’s wishes • Entered in 1901 to study law, against his own wishes • Abandoned law for chemistry • Returned to law • Abandoned it again for German studies and art history • Returned to law • 1905, when his health failed, he left to recover • In 1906 he returned and finished his doctorate in law

  9. Kafka as Doctor of Law, around 1906

  10. Professional Life • Before finishing law school, he drafted legal notices for a local attorney • Assisted his parents in the family business • 1906: one year unpaid apprenticeship in Prague’s court system • 1907: one year at the Assicurazioni Generali (Italian Insurance Agency) • 1908-1922: Arbeiter-Unfall-Versicherungs-Anstalt für das Königsreich Böhmen in Prag (Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia)

  11. Assicurazioni Generali

  12. Arbeiter-Unfall-Versicherungs-Anstalt für das Königsreich Böhmen in Prag (Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia)

  13. Friends • While at the university, he made friends with: Max Brod Oskar Baum Felix Weltsch 1884-1968 1883-1941 1884-1964 • Together they frequented the cafés, theatres, and bordellos • of Prague, discussing politics, art, and their own writings

  14. Novels • 1925: Der Prozess (The Trial), ed. Brod • 1926: Das Schloss (The Castle), ed. Brod • 1927: Amerika, ed. Brod

  15. Kafka’s Writings: Short Fiction • 1913: “Der Heizer: Ein Fragment” (The Stoker: A Fragment”) • 1913: Betrachtung (Meditations) • 1915: Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) • 1916: “Das Urteil: Eine Geschichte” (“The Judgment: A Story”) • 1919: In der Strafkolonie (In the Penal Colony) • 1919: Eine Landarzt (A Country Doctor) • 1924: Ein Hungerkunstler (A Hunger Artist)

  16. Diaries

  17. Diary Drawings

  18. Recurring themes in Kafka’s work • Father-son conflict • Isolation or alienation of the individual • Law as inaccessible/uncaring • Science vs. the state of nature • The dehumanizing aspect of the bureaucratic state • Loss of individual security and social cohesion (through war, changing social order, industrialization) • A sense of anxiety and doubt about earlier assumptions about the individual’s social and personal value • A questioning of earlier narratives, especially religious ones, about the human problems of evil, suffering, and injustice • The nightmare of modern experience in an industrialized world

  19. Formal qualities of Kafka’s work • The short stories are told as parables • Each work is carefully constructed • The world is carefully specified and described • Naturalism: reality is external, not internal • Expressionism: reality is distorted to reveal man’s absurd condition • Comical elements • The “fantastic,” natural supernaturalism, magical realism

  20. Kafka’s Judaism • His father was only perfunctorily attached to the Jewish community and its religious practices • Haskalah – Jewish Enlightment movement • Kafka was German both in language and culture • Kafka was sympathetic to Czech political and cultural aspirations • Later he studied Hebrew and supported Zionism • Anti-Semitism in Prague

  21. Prague • Was a prominent provincial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire • Situated on the Vltava River • Is important as background to Kafka’s stories, if not literally, symbolically

  22. Kafka’s birthplace

  23. Café Continental

  24. Jewish Ghetto

  25. Prague 1897

  26. Modern Prague

  27. Kafka in 1901

  28. Kafka in 1910

  29. Kafka in 1915

  30. Kafka and Felice Bauer They were twice engaged before their final rupture in 1917

  31. Kafka in 1922

  32. 1923-1924 Dora Dymant

  33. Kafka dies near Vienna, in 1924, of tuberculosis

  34. Kafka’s Grave, Jewish Cemetery, Prague

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