Prague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as " The Metamorphosis " (1916), and posthumously published novels, including The Trial (1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world. Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature. His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927). Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors. Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts. Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard. Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera. Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.

Franz Kafka فرانز كافكا (3 يوليو 1883 - 3 يونيو 1924) كاتب تشيكي يهودي كتب بالألمانية، رائد الكتابة الكابوسية. يعد أحد أفضل أدباء الألمانية في فن الرواية والقصة القصيرة. تعلم كافكا الكيمياءوالحقوق والادب في الجامعة الألمانية في براغ (1901). ولد لعائلة يهودية متحررة، وخلال حياته تقرب من اليهودية. تعلم العبرية لدى معلمة خصوصية. عمل موظفا في شركة تأمين حوادث العمل. امضى وقت فراغه في الكتابة الادبية التي راى بها هدف وجوهر حياته. القليل من كتاباته نشرت خلال حياته، معظمها - يشمل رواياته العظمى (الحكم) و(الغائب) التي لم ينهها- نشرت بعد موته، على يد صديقه المقرب ماكس برود، الذي لم يستجب لطلب كافكا بإبادة كل كتاباته. حياته كانت مليئة بالحزن والمعاناة، بما في ذلك علاقته بوالده. فكافكا كان مثقفا حساسا وقع تحت حكم والد مستبد وقوي، عنه، هكذا قال، كتبت كل إنتاجاته. فكتب رسالته الطويلة تحت عنوان (رسالة لأب). الامر يبرز بصورة خاصة في كتابه (الحكم) حيث يقبل الشاب حكم الموت الذي اصدره عليه والده ويغرق. كان كافكا نباتيا واشمأز من أكل اللحوم، وهنالك من يربطون هذا بمهنة جده الذي كان جزارا. عرف كافكا على انه شخص يصعب عليه اتمام الامور، وهو الامر الذي ميز كتابته حيث كان يجد صعوبة في انهاء إنتاجاته. جدير بالذكر كذلك أن كتابات كافكا قد تعرضت فيما بعد للحرق على يد هتلر، وتعرضت مؤلفات كافكا لموقفين متناقضين من الدول الشيوعية في القرن الماضي، بدأت بالمنع والمصادرة وانتهت بالترحيب والدعم. من مؤلفاته: المحاكمة، القلعة، المفقود، رسالة إلى الوالد، الانمساخ، الحكم، الوقاد، بنات أوى والعرب