The Short Stories of Franz Kafka: Jewish master of the bizarre and creator of Kafkaesque

Written by Franz Kafka

Narrated by Richard Mitchley, Mark Rice-Oxley and Tom McLean

Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family.

Life for the young Kafka and his passion for literature was often made an ordeal by his over-bearing and domineering entrepreneur of a father.

In 1889 Kafka was sent to the Deutsche Knabenschule, an elementary school in Prague. His father would only allow him to be educated in German-speaking schools and even went so far as to limit visits to the synagogue to four a year.

In 1901 he graduated from the classics-oriented Altstädter Gymnasium. Kafka did well there and across a large range of subjects. He now enrolled at the Charles Ferdinand University, to study chemistry, but quickly switched to law for which he obtained his degree in June 1906 and then performed the mandatory year of unpaid service as clerk at the civil and criminal courts.

A job at an Italian insurance company left him little time to write and after a year he took another job with the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia where he stayed until ill health led to his resignation in 1922.

Although he saw work as a means to pay the bills and to allow him time to write, he received several promotions and was noted as a good employee.

By 1917 Kafka was suffering from tuberculosis, which required frequent periods of convalescence. Interspersed with this, were several intense affairs before he settled in Berlin with Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher who herself having left the ghetto now influenced Kafka's interest in the book of Jewish law, the Talmud.

Kafka’s on-going health was littered with problems. Apart from TB there were several other ailments, including migraines, insomnia, boils, depression, all usually brought on by excessive stresses and strains. He attempted to counteract all of this by naturopathic treatments, a vegetarian diet and consuming large quantities of unpasteurized milk.

His tuberculosis still worsened. He returned to Prague, where he died on 3rd June 1924. He was 40.

His literary works are few in number but towering in influence. His masterpieces include ‘The Trial’, ‘The Metamorphosis’ as well as a number of short stories which reveal facets of humankind that truthfully could only be born from Kafka’s brain and pen.

01 - Franz Kafka - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction

02 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

03 - Before the Law by Franz Kafka

04 - A Country Doctor by Franz Kafka

05 - A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781839679032

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka, geboren am 3. Juli 1883 in Prag, war ein bedeutender deutschsprachiger Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts. Er entstammte einer jüdischen Familie und wuchs in einer bürgerlichen Umgebung auf. Kafka studierte Jura an der Deutschen Universität in Prag und arbeitete später als Versicherungsangestellter, was ihn jedoch nicht erfüllte. Kafka begann früh mit dem Schreiben von literarischen Werken, die oft von seinen persönlichen Ängsten, Isolationserfahrungen und existenziellen Fragen geprägt waren. Sein Stil war geprägt von einer präzisen Sprache, einem tiefgründigen Sinn für Absurdität und einer düsteren Atmosphäre. Im Jahr 1912 veröffentlichte Kafka seine erste Erzählung Das Urteil, gefolgt von weiteren Werken wie Die Verwandlung, Der Prozess und Das Schloss. Diese Werke sind bekannt für ihre kafkaeske Atmosphäre, in der die Protagonisten oft von undurchsichtigen bürokratischen Strukturen oder unerklärlichen Gesetzen gefangen sind. Kafka litt zeitlebens unter gesundheitlichen Problemen und psychischen Belastungen, die sich auch in seinem Werk widerspiegeln. Er führte ein zurückgezogenes Leben und hatte Schwierigkeiten, seine Werke zu veröffentlichen und anzuerkennen zu lassen. Das Jahr 2024 markiert das sogenannte Kafkajahr, 100 Jahre nach seinem Tod im Jahr 1924. In diesem Jahr werden weltweit Veranstaltungen, Ausstellungen und Aufführungen stattfinden, um das Leben und Werk dieses einflussreichen Schriftstellers zu würdigen. Franz Kafka starb in Kierling bei Wien an Tuberkulose. Obwohl er zu Lebzeiten nur wenig Anerkennung erfuhr, gilt er heute als einer der bedeutendsten Autoren der Moderne und sein Werk hat einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die Literaturgeschichte. Kafkas einzigartiger Stil und seine tiefgründigen Themen machen ihn zu einem zeitlosen Klassiker der Weltliteratur.