Franz Kafka

Writer

Franz Kafka earned a law degree and worked for an insurance firm while writing mostly short fiction on the side. He began publishing in 1907, but what are now considered his major works appeared posthumously. Kafka left instructions after his death that his writings should be destroyed. His friend, author Max Brod, instead edited and published his writings in the 1930s, including The Trial and The Metamorphosis. Kafka's work, with its themes of alienation from society and a general anxiety over just being alive, had a strong influence on European intellectuals.

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