Franz Kafka i praski labirynt: Życie splecione z miastem K

Wstęp

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) stands as one of the 20th century’s most influential literary figures, whose works profoundly capture the anxieties and absurdities of modern existence. His narratives, often characterized by themes of alienation, guilt, and bureaucratic entanglement, have given rise to the widely recognized term “Kafkaesque”.1 This descriptor has permeated not only literary discourse but also popular culture, signifying a pervasive sense of malaise triggered by ludicrous situations beyond an individual’s control.

Kafka’s enduring legacy is inextricably linked to Prague, the city of his birth where he spent nearly his entire life.1 Despite his own complex and often conflicted relationship with the city, famously stating, “Prague doesn’t let go. Either one of us. This old crone has claws. One has to yield, or else” 3, Prague is now frequently referred to as the “City of K”.3 This appellation celebrates his omnipresence within its streets, squares, and cultural institutions. This report will delve into the intricate relationship between Franz Kafka and Prague, demonstrating how the city’s unique socio-cultural, political, and architectural landscape served as a crucible for his worldview, shaping his personal struggles and, consequently, profoundly influencing his distinctive literary voice and timeless themes.

I. Roots in the Old City: Kafka’s Early Life and Upbringing in Prague

Birth and Family Background

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3, 1883, into a German-Jewish family.4 At the time, Prague was an integral part of Bohemia within the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire.5 His family resided within Prague’s Jewish Ghetto, known as Josefov, a community that frequently faced economic and social disadvantages.4 Despite their adherence to German culture, the family found themselves largely excluded from meaningful relationships with the broader German minority in Prague.4 This early experience of being culturally aligned yet socially ostracized provided a foundational layer to Kafka’s developing sense of identity.

The Shadow of the Father

Hermann Kafka, Franz’s father, exerted “great Authority” within the family.4 Franz described him as “loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and intimidating”.5 This domineering presence profoundly affected young Franz, fostering a deep-seated feeling of being a “stranger” even within his own household.4 A particularly poignant childhood memory for Kafka involved an incident where his father, in response to his repeated cries for water, removed him to a balcony and locked him out of the house. This event, which haunted Kafka for years, was later recounted in his

Letter to His Father, where he expressed the pervasive feeling that his father considered him “an absolute Nothing”.5 With both parents primarily dedicating their time and energy to their dry-goods wholesale store in the Jewish ghetto 5, Kafka’s upbringing was largely entrusted to maids and governesses.5

Education and Early Intellectual Development

Kafka’s separation from his parents intensified upon commencing his education. Prague’s gymnasiums, which operated ten months a year with extensive homework, made student life “arduous and trying” for him.5 He was a distinct minority within these schools, both as a German-speaker and as a Jew.5 He attended German grammar school at the Kinský Palace on Old Town Square from 1893 to 1901.10 These educational institutions were specifically designed to mold children into “functionaries for the empire’s ever-flourishing bureaucracy”.5 Kafka often struggled with his self-perception and grades, managing to complete his studies only through “relentless studying, and some cheating” during rigorous final examinations.5

Despite his father’s strong disapproval and desire for him to join the family business, Kafka entered Ferdinand-Karls University, a German school in Prague, in 1901.5 He initially intended to study philosophy, briefly switched to chemistry, then German studies and art history, before ultimately returning to and completing a law degree in 1906.4 His legal studies at Charles University, located at Ovocný trh 3-5 10, provided him with an intimate, firsthand understanding of bureaucratic systems.1 At the university, he cultivated relationships with intellectuals and aspiring artists, including his lifelong friend Max Brod.3 Together, they frequented Prague’s numerous cafes and brothels, and attended theatrical productions and lectures, immersing themselves in the city’s vibrant cultural scene.5

Kafka’s early life in Prague, marked by his German-Jewish identity within a multi-ethnic, nationalist-charged environment, and the authoritarian presence of his father, fostered a profound sense of being an outsider. This feeling of being “doubly aware of feeling a foreigner”—both within his family and in his own city 4—was not merely a personal sentiment but a direct consequence of these intersecting pressures. This fractured identity, compounded by his father’s tyranny, became a foundational element for his later literary themes of alienation and the individual’s struggle against overwhelming, often inscrutable, forces. The early exposure to an educational system geared towards producing bureaucratic functionaries, combined with his subsequent legal training, provided him with an authentic understanding of the very systems he would later critique. This immersive experience in the structures and mindsets of bureaucracy laid the groundwork for his profound literary explorations of impersonal, oppressive systems, making his portrayals in works like

Proces sądowy I The Castle deeply informed and resonant.

Early Health Struggles and Personal Anxieties

By 1905, the demanding nature of Kafka’s life began to manifest in his health, necessitating a period of recovery at a sanatorium.5 Around 1906, the early signs of lung tuberculosis, which would tragically lead to his early death at just 41 years old, became apparent.4 Beyond tuberculosis, he suffered from insomnia, an acute intolerance to noise, furunculosis, asthenia, constipation, and various neuro-vegetative disorders.4 These physical ailments were often intrinsically linked to his mental state and pervasive anxieties, illustrating a psychosomatic dimension to his suffering.4

II. Prague’s Crucible: The City’s Influence on Kafka’s Worldview

A City of Flux

Kafka’s life unfolded in Prague during a period of profound social, cultural, and political transformation at the close of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th.9 The city was a cosmopolitan, multicultural metropolis and a significant hub of both German and Czech literature.11 However, this vibrancy was underpinned by significant tensions. Anti-Semitism was “rife throughout eastern Europe” 5, and Jews in Prague frequently experienced marginalization.5

The 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed escalating ethno-national conflicts between Czechs and Germans across Prague and Bohemia.7 The city underwent a dramatic demographic and political shift, with a rapid increase in the Czech-speaking population. The Czech National Party gained a majority in the city in 1861, transforming Prague into a center of Czech cultural and political life. This led to the replacement of German street names with Czech ones and the erection of Czech national monuments throughout the city.7 After 1918, when Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia, monuments associated with Habsburg rule were systematically removed from public spaces.7 This dynamic and often turbulent environment, characterized by “political turmoil” 8, profoundly influenced Kafka, who, with the sensitivity of a poet, learned to “both love and fear it”.11

The Bureaucratic Maze

Kafka’s legal studies at Charles University provided him with an initial exposure to the complexities of bureaucracy.1 After graduating, he worked briefly for a local attorney 5 before securing a contract with the Arbeiter-Unfall Versicherungs Anstalt (Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia) in 1908.4 This position, which he held until his death, provided him with regular hours—typically 8 am to 2 pm—allowing him the afternoons for his writing.4 Despite the firm’s underlying anti-Semitism, Kafka, only the second Jew among 250 employees, quickly gained substantial responsibility, even contributing to technical articles on accident prevention.5

His work involved regulating workplace safety and imposing laws on “unwilling industrial employers” who “contested their risk classifications, disregarded their safety norms, tried to thwart plant inspections, and evade their premium payments”.12 This direct, daily engagement with the resistance to and inefficiencies of bureaucratic systems deeply informed his literary portrayals. His professional life, far from being a mere backdrop, became a profound source for his “Kafkaesque” themes. His daily engagement with “abstruse detail” and “lucidity of presentation” in accident prevention 5, juxtaposed with the “unwilling industrial employers” and the “mindless bureaucratic processes” he observed 13, solidified his understanding of systems that were simultaneously rational in their internal logic and absurd in their human impact. This experience moved the concept of bureaucracy from an abstract idea to a tangible, oppressive force in his fiction. His experiences in this “bureaucratic job” 9 led him to understand how “Lies are made into a universal system” within the law 12, a concept central to

Proces sądowy.

Multicultural Tapestry

As a German-speaking Jew in a predominantly Czech Catholic city, Kafka was inherently an “outsider”.3 While he was culturally German, he felt excluded from the German minority.4 Although he held sympathy for Czech political and cultural aspirations, his primary identification remained with German culture.9 Nevertheless, he notably attended Czech theatrical performances and lectures, acting as a “link between the two local cultures” that were often divided by aggressive nationalism.14

His parents, having grown up speaking a Yiddish dialect in rural Bohemia, largely disregarded Jewish customs upon moving to Prague.15 Kafka himself initially internalized negative views of Jews, famously writing in his diary, “What do I have in common with Jews? I barely have anything in common with myself”.15 However, his interest in Yiddish theater, sparked in 1910 5, became a significant turning point. He befriended troupe members, attended around 20 performances at Café Savoy 10, and found the actors to be “Jews in an especially pure form”.15 This led to an 11-month intensive study of Yiddish language and culture, allowing him to explore aspects of his ancestry and nationality that his father detested.5 Prague’s intense ethno-national conflicts and the precarious position of German-speaking Jews within it 7 deepened Kafka’s sense of social isolation and “rootlessness”.9 His profound fascination with Yiddish theater was not merely cultural curiosity but a deeply personal search for a more “pure” or authentic Jewish identity, a counterpoint to his assimilated family and the conflicted German-Czech environment. This internal struggle for belonging in a fragmented city fueled his characters’ universal quest for meaning and acceptance within indifferent worlds.

Prague’s Architecture and Atmosphere

The “surreal and dreamlike qualities” of Kafka’s narratives were directly inspired by Prague’s “intricate architecture” and the “oppressive bureaucracies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire”.1 The “complex, labyrinthine architecture of his native Old Town,” the “vibrant, sometimes surreal Jewish community,” and the “melancholy beauty of the Vltava River” are vividly depicted or alluded to in his works.1 These elements provided a tangible backdrop for his abstract themes. Kafka’s profound sense of isolation and difficulty in relationships was reflected in his portrayal of alienation and bureaucratic entanglement in his Prague-inspired narratives.1

III. The Literary Output: Kafka’s Major Works and Enduring Themes

Novels

Kafka’s three major, albeit unfinished, novels are Proces sądowy (1925), The Castle (1926), and America (1927, originally titled Der Verschollene or “The Missing One”).5 These seminal works were published posthumously by his friend Max Brod, who famously defied Kafka’s dying wish to destroy his manuscripts.3

Proces sądowy depicts the bewildering experience of Josef K., a bank clerk, who is arrested for an unnamed crime and must navigate a “labyrinthine network of bureaucratic traps”.12 This narrative explores profound themes of guilt, the inscrutability of authority, and the individual’s powerlessness against an opaque legal system.12

The Castle follows the land-surveyor K.’s desperate and ultimately futile attempts to gain access to obscure higher authorities in a village dominated by a mysterious castle.4 It delves into themes of alienation, the relentless struggle against unresponsive bureaucratic systems, and the inherent unattainability of goals.4

America, also known as The Man Who Disappeared, chronicles the bizarre adventures of a naive young man in the United States after seducing a maid.5 Kafka began writing this novel in a sanatorium in 1912.5

Novellas and Short Stories

Kafka’s prolific short fiction includes seminal works such as Osąd (1913), In the Penal Colony (1914), The Metamorphosis (1915), A Country Doctor (1916), A Report to an Academy (1919), A Hunger Artist (1924), and Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk (1924).16

The Metamorphosis is arguably his most famous novella, in which traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a “hideous insect”.4 This work profoundly reflects Kafka’s sense of being a stranger, burdened by familial and societal expectations, and explores themes of shame, self-disgust, isolation, and the dehumanizing effects of an indifferent world.4 Notably, the novella was written at Pařížská 36, where the arrangement of the rooms in the story matched the building’s layout.10

Osąd, written in a single evening and dedicated to his fiancée Felice Bauer, incisively renders the father-son conflict that profoundly affected his personal life.5 In the tale, the protagonist, Georg Bendemann, is condemned to drown by his totalitarian father.1

In the Penal Colony stands as one of Kafka’s most disturbing works, centering on a mechanistic torture device that inscribes proclamations onto victims’ flesh.5 It has been interpreted as an expression of Kafka’s susceptibility to self-punishment.5

A Country Doctor, which Kafka wrote while renting a small house in Golden Lane 10, recounts a doctor’s gruesome, surreal experience on a snowy evening.5

A Hunger Artist is a tragic, comedic, and absurd tale about a professional faster whose celebrity wanes, culminating in a grim explanation for his fasting: he simply could not find palatable food.5

Letters and Diaries

Kafka’s extensive correspondence and diaries provide invaluable insights into his inner world and complex personal relationships. Letters to His Father (1919), though never delivered, tirelessly examines the failings of his relationship with his domineering father, decrying him as inconsiderate and dictatorial, while simultaneously revealing Kafka’s profound self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy.4 His

Letters to Milena (1952) and Letters to Felice (1967) offer a glimpse into his “complicated love life, with failed engagements” 1 and his “neurotically disturbed” relationships 18, reflecting his deep insecurity and his internal conflict between the dread of losing freedom and the fear of being left alone.4

The “Kafkaesque” Style and Themes

Kafka’s works are renowned for their unique, unsettling narratives that explore universal themes of alienation, anxiety, guilt, and the absurdity of existence.1 His characters are frequently depicted as “gloomily alone, affected by a sense of guilt which crushes them”.4 The “Kafkaesque” sensibility is characterized by individuals trapped in nightmarish situations, grappling with “impersonal, labyrinthine systems that seem to operate independently of human control or understanding”.1 This encompasses “government oppressive behavior through official processes that result in absurdities, offensiveness, charades, shams, bureaucratic pretentiousness, deceit, trickery, and duplicity”.2

His signature style is often described as “terse, detached, and unsettling” 1, frequently featuring a “dreamlike, surreal quality” 1 with vivid imagery and a distinctive blend of humor and existential dread.1 He employs a “seemingly matter-of-fact and austere style” 20 even when depicting fantastical or grotesque events. Kafka’s works are also considered Expressionist, integrating elements of Surrealism and motifs from the absurd.20 While he rarely mentions Prague directly in his fiction 8, the city’s “cultural complexities and the existential anxieties” profoundly shaped his literary vision.1

Kafka’s personal anxieties and traumas, particularly his “domineering father” 4 and “troubled relationship with his father” 1, are not merely reflected in his fiction but are transformed into universal themes of alienation, guilt, and the individual’s struggle against inscrutable, overwhelming authority. The transformation of Gregor Samsa and Josef K.’s trial become allegories for the human condition, making his deeply personal struggles resonate globally. For instance, the “root idea” for

The Metamorphosis was a concept Kafka attributed to his father—”an invitation to think of himself as verminous”.5 This illustrates how his specific, intense personal dynamic became the template for the power imbalances, feelings of worthlessness, and existential dread experienced by his characters. His internal world, shaped by Prague and his family, thus served as the blueprint for his fictional universes, imbuing them with their unique “Kafkaesque” quality and universal appeal by translating deeply personal suffering into broadly relatable human experiences.

Furthermore, Kafka’s distinctive style—terse, detached, unsettling, and blending the normal with the fantastic—is not just an aesthetic choice but a deliberate narrative strategy to evoke the “disorientation and powerlessness” central to his themes.1 By withholding clear explanations, such as the nature of Josef K.’s crime in

Proces sądowy 12, Kafka intentionally forces the reader into the same state of uncertainty and anxiety as his characters. This makes the “Kafkaesque” a visceral experience rather than a mere description. The “absurdity” in his works is not confined to plot events but is deeply embedded in the very way the story is told, creating a profound, unsettling, and highly immersive experience for the reader, which contributes significantly to the unique impact of his literary output.

IV. Kafka’s Prague: A Guide to His Footsteps

Franz Kafka’s life was intimately woven into the fabric of Prague, with numerous locations across the city bearing witness to his personal, educational, and professional journey.

Key Residences

Kafka was born in the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) in Prague.8 He lived at

Dům U minuty on Old Town Square from June 1889 to September 1896, a period during which his three sisters were born.10 His family later resided on the top floor of

Oppeltův dům, located at the corner of Pařížská Street and Old Town Square, from November 1913.10 Kafka rented a room at

Dlouhá 16 (known as U Zlaté štiky, or “at the golden pike”) from 1915 to early 1917, an Art Nouveau building he found notably noisy due to its elevator.8 The seminal novella

The Metamorphosis was written at Pařížská 36 (Zum Schiff, or “at the ship”), a house whose room arrangement notably matched the story’s layout.10

In mid-1907, his family moved to a new building in a razed part of the ghetto. To Kafka’s dismay, his bedroom was situated between the living room and his parents’ bedroom, offering minimal privacy and exposing him to all household noises and conversations.5 This spatial arrangement directly contributed to his “hypersensitive” nature and the feeling of being perpetually exposed, a sensation that permeates his narratives, where characters often lack agency or privacy. The physical layout of his homes literally mirrored his internal psychological landscape, where relaxation and writing proved extremely difficult.5 He later moved to a sister’s vacated apartment and then rented his own flat in March 1917.5 Towards the end of his life, he lived with Dora Dymant in Berlin-Steglitz, before returning to his parents’ home in Prague when his health severely declined.5

He particularly enjoyed and rented a tiny house at number 22 in the Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička) at Prague Castle with his sister Ottla from 1916 to summer 1917. It was here that he wrote almost all the stories that were later published in the 1920 collection A Country Doctor.8

Educational and Professional Hubs

Kafka attended German grammar school at the Kinský Palace (Old Town Square 12) from 1893 to 1901.10 His father also maintained a haberdashery shop on the ground floor of this same palace from 1912 to 1918.10 He pursued his law studies at

Uniwersytet Karola (Ovocný trh 3-5) from 1901 to 1906.3 One of his initial professional engagements was at Richard Löwy’s legal practice, located adjacent to Kinský Palace at number 16.10 He attended elementary school at

Masná 18 and an evening course on worker’s insurance at the former German Business Academy at Masná 8.10 His most significant professional role was at the

Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia (Na Poříčí 7), where he worked from 1908 until his death.5 Additionally, from 1912 to 1917, Kafka and his family owned an asbestos factory at

Bořivojova 27 in Žižkov, where he also worked after his insurance job, further contributing to his demanding schedule.5

Social Haunts

Kafka’s social and intellectual life also revolved around specific Prague locations. Café Louvre (Národní 22), with its majestic halls, was a favored meeting point for German-speaking intellectuals, including Kafka and his friends.3 He met his love interest Milena Jesenská at

Café Arco (Hybernská 16), a popular spot for artists and writers.10

Kawiarnia Savoy (Vězeňská 11), now Pastacaffé, famously hosted Yiddish theater presentations, which Kafka frequented, attending approximately 20 performances and forming a friendship with the leading actor Jizchak Löwy.3 Kafka gave his only known public reading of one of his works,

Osąd, on December 4, 1912, at the Grand Hotel Evropa (Václavské náměstí 19), then known as Hotel Erzherzog Stephan.8 He also regularly read the German-language newspaper

Prager Tagblatt, whose newsroom was at Panská 8, and occasionally contributed short stories and reviews.10

Other Significant Locations

The Dzielnica żydowska (Josefov), Kafka’s birthplace, is regarded as a “Mecca” for his admirers today.8 Kafka’s tomb is located in the

Nowy Cmentarz Żydowski.1 The

Franz Kafka Museum (Hergetova Cihelna, Cihelná 2b) opened in 2005 on the Lesser Town bank of the Vltava River, offering an immersive glimpse into his life and work through historical documents, photographs, manuscripts, and audiovisual installations.6 A prominent

Franz Kafka Monument by Jaroslav Róna, depicting Kafka riding on the shoulders of a headless figure, was erected in the Jewish Quarter.3

Franz Kafka Square (Náměstí Franze Kafky) also commemorates him.8 Beyond specific buildings, the

Vltava River, Old Town, Vyšehrad Hills, and Castle Hill are all integral parts of Prague’s landscape that implicitly influenced his narratives.1

The proliferation of Kafka-related landmarks, museums, and monuments in contemporary Prague signifies the city’s conscious effort to reclaim and leverage his legacy after decades of “active disdain” 3 and “deliberate erasure” 21 under Communist rule. This transformation from an overlooked writer to a major tourist attraction demonstrates how a city’s cultural identity can be fluid and strategically “reinvented” 21 to align with economic and political shifts, turning Kafka’s complex “love-hate relationship” with Prague 3 into a powerful cultural and economic asset.

Table: Key Prague Locations in Franz Kafka’s Life

V. The Enduring Legacy: Kafka’s Presence in Modern Prague and Beyond

From Ambivalence to Icon

Kafka himself harbored a “love-hate relationship” with Prague 3, often feeling like a “stranger” in his own city.4 For decades after his death, Prague’s relationship with Kafka remained complex and often ambivalent. In the 1930s, he was largely overlooked by the Czech intelligentsia, only to emerge as a hero during the reformist period of the 1960s. However, this recognition was short-lived, as he was deliberately erased from public memory by the Soviet-backed regime following the 1968 invasion.21 After World War II, under Communist Party rule, his works were treated with “active disdain” due to prevailing anti-German sentiment.3 It was only after the fall of the Iron Curtain, with the subsequent influx of tourism, that Kafka was fully celebrated as one of the Czech Republic’s most beloved sons.3

Memorials and Institutions

Today, Franz Kafka’s presence is “ubiquitous” in Prague.3 The

Franz Kafka Museum, which opened in 2005 on the Lesser Town bank of the Vltava River, offers a compelling glimpse into his life and work through historical documents, photographs, manuscripts, and audiovisual installations.6 Notable public monuments include the

Franz Kafka Monument by Jaroslav Róna in the Jewish Quarter, depicting Kafka riding on the shoulders of a headless figure 3, and David Černý’s rotating mirrored bust of Kafka located downtown.3 Other institutions such as the

Franz Kafka Society i Franz Kafka Bookstore further solidify his legacy, while streets, squares, and plaques across the city are adorned with elements that reflect his enduring connection to Prague.3

Cultural Impact

Kafka’s global literary renown is largely attributable to the unwavering dedication of his friend and literary executor, Max Brod. Brod famously defied Kafka’s dying wish to destroy his incomplete manuscripts.3 This act of preservation, which some might consider a “betrayal,” allowed Kafka’s “timeless literary quality” 20 to transcend his personal anxieties and the specific historical context of Prague. Brod’s persistence in publishing works like

Proces sądowy, The Castle, I America posthumously “single-handedly expanded Kafka’s fame” 3, transforming him from a tormented, self-doubting writer into a universal symbol of modern alienation and bureaucratic absurdity. The profound irony lies in the fact that his enduring legacy, which he himself attempted to suppress, is now a cornerstone of Prague’s cultural identity.

Kafka’s works garnered international acclaim, profoundly influencing existentialists and absurdists such as Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre.3 The term “Kafkaesque” has become common vernacular in literary circles and beyond, describing “frustratingly and pointlessly bureaucratic” or “nightmarish” situations where individuals experience malaise, disorientation, and powerlessness in the face of unfathomable forces.1 Kafka’s themes of alienation, isolation, and questions of identity remain profoundly relevant today, resonating with young people who often feel lost or in conflict with authority.11 His work is considered a central component of Prague German literature, categorized as Expressionist, with elements of Surrealism and the absurd.20

Prague as the “City of K”

The evocative phrase “Franz Kafka is the soul of Prague and Prague is the soul of Kafka” 8 encapsulates their inseparable connection. While he rarely directly referenced the city in his works, the political turmoil and unique atmosphere of the Czech capital form a large feature of his literary productions.1 Prague’s journey from suppressing Kafka’s memory to celebrating him as a “major cultural icon” 21 reflects not only a post-Communist embrace of Western cultural figures but also a strategic “political-cultural self-fashioning and economic calculation”.21 The city’s current “Kafkaesque” identity 1 is a constructed narrative that leverages his universal themes to attract tourism and define its modern persona. This demonstrates how a city’s historical memory can be selectively curated and commodified, transforming a complex, conflicted historical relationship into a simplified, marketable narrative.

Wniosek

Franz Kafka’s life was profoundly intertwined with Prague, a city that served as both his physical home and the metaphorical landscape for his literary imagination. From his birth in the Jewish Ghetto and his challenging upbringing under a domineering father, to his arduous education and professional immersion in the city’s burgeoning bureaucracy, Prague’s unique socio-cultural and political environment directly shaped his worldview and personal anxieties. The pervasive sense of being an outsider, the weight of paternal authority, and the bewildering nature of bureaucratic systems, all deeply experienced within Prague, became the raw material for his creative output.

These deeply personal struggles, particularly his feelings of alienation, rootlessness, and the oppressive weight of authority, were meticulously translated into his iconic “Kafkaesque” works such as Proces sądowy, The Metamorphosis, I The Castle. Through his terse, dreamlike prose and a deliberate narrative strategy of ambiguity, Kafka universalized his individual torment, creating narratives that resonate with timeless themes of human vulnerability in the face of inscrutable systems. His unique style forces the reader into the same state of uncertainty as his characters, making the “Kafkaesque” a visceral and universally relatable experience.

Today, Prague has fully embraced its most famous literary son. The city, once ambivalent or even suppressive of his memory, now proudly positions itself as the “City of K,” with museums, monuments, and landmarks inviting visitors to walk in his footsteps. This transformation underscores not only Kafka’s enduring global relevance—a testament to Max Brod’s pivotal decision to preserve his works—but also how a city’s identity can evolve, strategically curating its past to define its present and future. Ultimately, Kafka’s profound connection to Prague ensures that his legacy, a powerful exploration of the human condition, continues to captivate and challenge readers worldwide.

Works cited

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