What language did French Kafka write in? Biography of French Kafka. Franz Kafka, bibliography

Today interesting-vse.ru has prepared for you interesting facts about the life and work of the mystical writer.

Franz Kafka

In world literature, his works are recognized due to their unique style. No one has ever written about the absurd, it’s so beautiful and interesting.

Bography

Franz Kafka (German Franz Kafka, July 3, 1883, Prague, Austria-Hungary - June 3, 1924, Klosterneuburg, First Austrian Republic) is one of the outstanding German-language writers of the 20th century, most of whose works were published posthumously. His works, permeated with absurdity and fear of the outside world and higher authority, capable of awakening corresponding anxious feelings in the reader, are a unique phenomenon in world literature.

Kafka was born on July 3, 1883, into a Jewish family living in the Josefov district, the former Jewish ghetto of Prague (now the Czech Republic, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). His father, Herman (Genykh) Kafka (1852-1931), came from the Czech-speaking Jewish community in Southern Bohemia, and since 1882 he was a wholesale merchant of haberdashery goods. The surname "Kafka" is of Czech origin (kavka literally means "daw"). On Hermann Kafka's signature envelopes, which Franz often used for letters, this bird with a quivering tail is depicted as an emblem.

Kafka's relationship with his oppressive father is an important component of his work, which was also refracted through the writer's failure as a family man.

Kafka published four collections during his lifetime - “Contemplation”, “The Country Doctor”, “Punishments” and “The Hunger Man”, as well as “The Stoker” - the first chapter of the novel “America” (“The Missing”) and several other short works. However, his main creations - the novels “America” (1911-1916), “The Trial” (1914-1915) and “The Castle” (1921-1922) - remained unfinished to varying degrees and were released after the author’s death and contrary to his last will .

Data

Franz Kafka is one of the main mascots of Prague.

mascot – from fr. mascotte - "person, animal or object that brings good luck" – Mascot character

Franz Kafka was an Austrian writer of Jewish origin who was born in Prague and wrote primarily in German.

The Franz Kafka Museum is a museum dedicated to the life and work of Franz Kafka. Located in Prague, Mala Strana, to the left of Charles Bridge.

The museum's exhibition includes all first editions of Kafka's books, his correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, photographs and drawings. In the museum's bookstore, visitors can buy any of Kafka's works.

The permanent exhibition of the museum consists of two parts - “Existential Space” and “Imaginary Topography”.

“Between the Spanish Synagogue and the Church of the Holy Spirit in the Old Town there is an unusual monument - a monument to the famous Austro-Hungarian writer Franz Kafka.
The bronze sculpture, designed by Jaroslav Rona, appeared in Prague in 2003. The Kafka monument is 3.75 meters high and weighs 700 kilograms. The monument depicts the writer on the shoulders of a gigantic suit, in which the one who should wear it is missing. The monument refers to one of Kafka’s works, “The Story of a Struggle.” This is the story of a man who, riding on the shoulders of another man, roams the streets of Prague."

During his lifetime, Kafka had many chronic diseases that undermined his life - tuberculosis, migraines, insomnia, constipation, abscesses and others.

After receiving his doctorate in jurisprudence, Kafka served his entire life as an official of an insurance company, earning his living from this. He hated his job, but, having worked a lot on insurance claims in industry, he was the first to invent and introduce a hard helmet for workers; for this invention, the writer received a medal.

In the courtyard in front of the house-museum of Franz Kafka there is a Fountain-monument to pissing men. The author is David Cerný, a Czech sculptor.

Franz Kafka published only a few short stories during his lifetime. Being seriously ill, he asked his friend Max Brod to burn all his works after his death, including several unfinished novels. Brod did not fulfill this request, but, on the contrary, ensured the publication of the works that brought Kafka worldwide fame.

The writer's stories and reflections are a reflection of his own neuroses and experiences that helped him overcome his fears.

His novels "America", "The Trial" and "The Castle" remained unfinished.

Despite the fact that Kafka was the grandson of a kosher butcher, he was a vegetarian.

Kafka had two younger brothers and three younger sisters. Both brothers, before reaching the age of two, died before Kafka turned 6 years old. The sisters were named Ellie, Valli and Ottla (all three died during World War II in Nazi concentration camps in Poland).

The Castle by Franz Kafka is recognized as one of the main books of the 20th century. The plot of the novel (the search for the road leading to the Castle) is very simple and at the same time extremely complex. It attracts not because of its twisted moves and intricate stories, but because of its parabolism, parable-like nature, and symbolic ambiguity. Kafka’s artistic world, dream-like, unsteady, captivates the reader, draws him into a recognizable and unrecognizable space, awakens and extremely intensifies sensations that were previously hidden somewhere in the depths of his hidden “I”. Each new reading of “The Castle” is a new drawing of the path that the reader’s consciousness wanders through the labyrinth of the novel...

“The Castle” is probably theology in action, but first of all it is the individual path of the soul in search of grace, the path of a person who asks the objects of this world about the secret of mysteries, and in women looks for manifestations of the god slumbering in them.”
Albert Camus

“All Kafka’s works are highly reminiscent of parables, there is a lot of teaching in them; but his best creations are like a crystalline solid, permeated with a picturesquely playing light, which is sometimes achieved by a very pure, often cold and precisely maintained structure of the language. “The Castle” is just such a work.”
Hermann Hesse

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) – interesting facts from the life of the world famous Austrian writer updated: December 14, 2017 by: website

Franz Kafka's Jewish roots did not prevent him from mastering the German language perfectly and even writing his works in it. During his lifetime, the writer published little, but after his death, Kafka’s relatives published his works, despite the direct ban on the writer. How did the master of word formation Franz Kafka live and work?

Kafka: biography

The author was born in the summer: July 3, 1883 in Prague. His family lived in a former ghetto for Jews. Father Herman had his own small business and was a wholesale trader. And mother Julia was the heiress of a wealthy brewer and spoke German very well.

Kafka's two brothers and three sisters made up his entire family. The brothers died at an early age, and the sisters died in later years in concentration camps. In addition to German, which his mother taught him, Kafka knew Czech and French.

In 1901, Franz graduated from high school and then received a matriculation certificate. Five years later he received a diploma from Charles University. So he became a doctor of law. Weber himself supervised the writing of his dissertation.

Subsequently, Kafka worked all his life in the same insurance department. He retired early due to health problems. Kafka did not like to work in his specialty. He kept diaries where he described his hatred of his boss, colleagues and all his activities in general.

During his working life, Kafka significantly improved working conditions in factories throughout the Czech Republic. He was highly valued and respected at work. In 1917, doctors discovered Kafka had tuberculosis. After his diagnosis, he was not allowed to retire for another 5 years, as he was a valuable employee.

The writer had a difficult character. He broke up with his parents early. He lived poorly and ascetically. I wandered around a lot in removable closets. He suffered not only from tuberculosis, but also from migraines, and also suffered from insomnia and impotence. Kafka himself led a healthy lifestyle. In his youth, he played sports and tried to adhere to a vegetarian diet, but could not recover from his ailments.

Kafka often engaged in self-flagellation. I was dissatisfied with myself and the world around me. I wrote a lot about this in my diaries. While still at school, Franz helped organize performances and promoted a literary circle. He impressed those around him as a neat young man with an excellent sense of humor.

Since school days, Franz was friends with Max Brod. This friendship continued until the writer’s hasty death. Kafka's personal life did not work out. Some researchers believe that this state of affairs had roots in his relationship with his despot father.

Franz was engaged to Felicia Bauer twice. But he never married the girl. After all, her image, which the writer came up with, did not correspond to the character of a living person.

Then Kafka had an affair with Julia Vochrytsek. But family life did not work out here either. Afterwards, Franz met with married journalist Elena Yesenskaya. During that period, she helped him edit his works.

After 1923, Kafka's health deteriorated greatly. Tuberculosis of the larynx developed rapidly. The writer could not eat or breathe normally and was exhausted. In 1924, his relatives took him to a sanatorium. But this measure did not help. So on June 3, Franz Kafka passed away. He was buried in the New Cemetery for Jews in Olshany.

The writer's works and his creativity

• "Contemplation";
• "Fireman";
• "Rural doctor";
• "Hunger";
• "Kara."

The collections and novels were selected by Franz for publication himself. Before his death, Kafka expressed a desire for his loved ones to destroy the remaining manuscripts and diaries. Some of his works actually went into the fire, but many remained and were published after the death of the author.

The novels “America”, “Castle” and “The Trial” were never completed by the author, but the existing chapters were still published. Eight of the author’s workbooks have also survived. They contain sketches and sketches of works he never wrote.

What did Kafka, who lived a difficult life, write about? Fear of the world and the judgment of the Higher Powers permeates all the author’s works. His father wanted his son to become the heir to his business, and the boy did not live up to the expectations of the head of the family, so he was subject to his father’s tyranny. This left a serious imprint on Franz's worldview.

Novels written in the style of realism convey everyday life without unnecessary embellishment. The author's style may seem dry and clerical, but the plot twists in the stories and novels are quite non-trivial.

There is a lot that is unsaid in his works. The writer reserves the right for the reader to independently interpret some situations in the works. In general, Kafka's works are filled with tragedy and a depressing atmosphere. The author wrote some of his works together with his friend Max Brod.

For example, “The First Long Journey by Rail” or “Richard and Samuel” is a short prose of two friends who supported each other all their lives.

Franz Kafka did not receive much recognition as a writer during his lifetime. But his works, published after his death, were appreciated. The novel "The Trial" received the greatest approval from critics around the world. Readers also loved him. Who knows how many beautiful works were burned in the fire on the orders of the author himself. But what has reached the public is considered a magnificent addition to the postmodern style in art and literature.

Kafka

Kafka

(Kafka) Franz (1883-1924) Austrian writer, who with unprecedented power described man’s loss in himself and in a world incomprehensible to him, the metaphysical feeling of guilt and longing for unattainable divine grace. During his lifetime, almost unknown to anyone, he bequeathed to burn all his manuscripts without reading. After World War II, K. became one of the most famous and influential writers. To this day, his work is one of the “hot spots” of world literature. At first they tried to connect his work with expressionism (the deformation of reality, a cry of pain instead of harmony), then, in the 40s, with surrealism (fantasy, alogism and absurdism), and even later and finally he was accepted into its fold by existentialism (the loss of man in a world incomprehensible to him, fear, guilt and melancholy as primary experiences). External biographical circumstances, it would seem, did not contribute to the birth of such a bizarre and unique artist. K. was born into a wealthy Jewish family, his father was the owner of a large haberdashery store, and the future writer never knew need. Little Franz looked at his father, who achieved everything on his own, with fear and at the same time with reverence. The famous “Letter to Father” (a completely real, not a work of fiction), although the length of a small book, was written in 1919, when father and son lived together, and begins with the words: “Dear father! The other day you asked me why I’m so afraid of you...” Shortly before this, Franz presented him with two of his just published collections - “In the Penal Colony” and “The Rural Enemy”, which his father did not even bother to leaf through, he was so convinced in the worthlessness of all his son’s literary experiences. K. received a law education at the German University of Prague (again the influence of his father, who wanted a solid profession for his son), although he secretly dreamed of studying German philology in Munich. , and in December K., citing illness, broke off his engagement to Felicia Bauer for the second time). Obviously, K.'s tuberculosis was of a psychosomatic nature, like M. Proust's asthma. K. was convinced that a measured family life would not allow him to devote himself to literary work as completely as before (work at an insurance company ended at two in the afternoon, leaving the entire afternoon free). Two more women should be named who played a big role in the writer’s life: this young (and married) translator of his books from German into Czech, Milena Jesenskaya, who, perhaps, like no one else, understood Kafka’s soul (a whole volume of his letters was addressed to her) and 20 -year-old Dora Dimant, with whom K. spent the last and, perhaps, happiest year of his life. Milena Jesenskaya left a vivid psychological portrait of K. the person in a letter to M. Brod: “For him, life is something completely different than for all other people, and above all, such things as money, the stock exchange, a typewriter - for him this is completely mystical things (they are essentially what they are, just not for us, others). For him, all these are bizarre mysteries... For him, any office, including the one where he works, is something as mysterious, worthy of surprise, as for a little boy - a moving steam locomotive... This whole world remains mysterious for him. Mystical secret. Something that is not yet possible and which can only be admired because it functions.” Here the origins of K.’s “magical realism” are given, but its deep religious seriousness is not noticed at all. Perhaps the epigraph to K.’s work can be put with the words from his diary: “Sometimes it seems to me that I understand the fall of man better than anyone on earth.” Every person is guilty by the fact that he was born and came into this world. K. felt this with a thousandfold force - perhaps because of a feeling of guilt before his father, or because he spoke German while living in a Slavic city, or because he could not even formally fulfill all the rules of Judaism, as his father did. In the diary we read: “What do I have in common with the Jews? I have little in common even with myself.” At the same time, in everyday life he was an easy-going and cheerful person, loved by his colleagues and appreciated by his superiors. One of his friends writes: “You could never say hello to him first; he was always at least a second ahead of you.” During his lifetime, K. managed to publish only six small brochures. In the first of them, a collection of miniatures “Contemplation” (1913), he is still searching for his path and style. But already in the story “The Verdict”, written in one night, we see the mature K. Not every reader understands why the main character of the story commits suicide, blindly obeying his father’s orders. The decisive factor here is the hundredfold aggravated feeling of guilt towards the parent, which is difficult for the modern reader to understand. The famous story “Metamorphosis” is just the realization of self-esteem: the hero K. is unworthy of a human appearance, for him the appearance of a disgusting insect is more commensurate. Finally, the story “In the Penal Colony”, puzzling in its cruelty, in which liberal and Marxist criticism immediately saw a prediction of fascism, is in fact only a comparison of the Old and New Testaments and an attempt to see the peculiar correctness of the Old Testament (it is no coincidence that the old commandant fearlessly throws himself into the deadly machine ). In general, K. should be compared not with the Prague group of German expressionists (G. Meyrink, M. Brod, etc.), but with such thinkers as Pascal and Kierkegaard. Particularly important for K. was Kierkegaard's thought about the incommensurability of human and divine ideas about justice, sin and retribution. It is characteristic that all three of K.’s novels remained unfinished, and he asked to destroy them. This means that for him it was some kind of complex form of psychotherapy, which he considered necessary for himself and useless for others. In the novel “The Trial” (created in 1914-1915, published in 1925), the dreamlike atmosphere cannot prevent the reader from guessing that we are talking about a trial against oneself (court hearings in the attics, that is, in the upper floors of consciousness, the hero of the novel himself regularly comes to them, although no one invites him. When the hero is taken to execution, he meets a policeman, but instead of asking for help, he pulls his companions away from the law enforcement officer). In the last and most mature novel, “The Castle” (created in 1922, published in 1926), we encounter a downright Kierkegaardian parable about the unattainability and incomprehensibility of the creator and his grace. The hero of the novel must receive permission to settle only before his death - and then not in the Castle, but only in the village adjacent to it. But hundreds of villagers received this right without any difficulty. He who seeks will not find, and whoever does not seek will be found, K wants to say. The reader is shocked by the contrast between the crystal clear, simple language of the novel and the fantastic nature of the events depicted in it.

Works: Gesammelte Werke. Bd 1-8. Munchen, 1951-1958; since 1982, a complete critical edition has been published, where two volumes are devoted to each novel - with all the options (the publication continues);

Op. in 3 volumes, M.-Kharkov, 1994.

Lit.: Zatonsky D. Franz Kafka and the problems of modernism, M., 1972;

Emrich W. Franz Kafka. Bonn, 1958;

Brod M. Franz Kafka. Eine Biography. Frankfurt/Main, 1963;

Binder H. Kafka: Hamdbuch. Bd 1-2. Stuttgart, 1979-80.

S. Dzhimbinov

Lexicon of nonclassics. Artistic and aesthetic culture of the 20th century.. V.V.Bychkov. 2003.

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Franz Kafka- one of the outstanding German-speaking writers of the 20th century, most of whose works were published posthumously. His works, permeated with absurdity and fear of the outside world and higher authority, capable of awakening corresponding anxious feelings in the reader, are a unique phenomenon in world literature.

Kafka was born on July 3, 1883 into a Jewish family living in the ghetto of Prague (Bohemia, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). His father, Hermann Kafka (1852-1931), came from the Czech-speaking Jewish community, and since 1882 he was a haberdashery merchant. The writer's mother, Julia Kafka (Löwy) (1856-1934), preferred the German language. Kafka himself wrote in German, although he also knew Czech perfectly. He also had some command of the French language, and among the four people whom the writer, “without pretending to compare with them in strength and intelligence,” felt as “his blood brothers,” was the French writer Gustave Flaubert. The other three are: Grillparzer, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Heinrich von Kleist.

Kafka had two younger brothers and three younger sisters. Both brothers, before reaching the age of two, died before Kafka turned 6 years old. The sisters' names were Ellie, Valli and Ottla. In the period from 1889 to 1893. Kafka attended primary school (Deutsche Knabenschule) and then gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1901 by passing the matriculation exam. After graduating from Charles University in Prague, he received a doctorate in law (Kafka’s work supervisor on his dissertation was Professor Alfred Weber), and then entered the service as an official in the insurance department, where he worked in modest positions until his premature retirement due to illness in 1922. Work for a writer was a secondary occupation. In the foreground there was always literature, “justifying his entire existence.” In 1917, after a pulmonary hemorrhage, long-term tuberculosis began, from which the writer died on June 3, 1924 in a sanatorium near Vienna.

Asceticism, self-doubt, self-judgment and a painful perception of the world around him - all these qualities of the writer are well documented in his letters and diaries, and especially in “Letter to Father” - a valuable introspection into the relationship between father and son and into childhood experience. Chronic illnesses (whether of a psychosomatic nature is a controversial issue) plagued him; in addition to tuberculosis, he suffered from migraines, insomnia, constipation, abscesses and other diseases. He tried to counteract all this with naturopathic means, such as a vegetarian diet, regular exercise, and drinking large quantities of unpasteurized cow's milk (the latter possibly being the cause of tuberculosis). As a schoolboy, he took an active part in organizing literary and social gatherings, and made efforts to organize and promote Yiddish theatrical performances, despite misgivings even from his closest friends, such as Max Brod, who usually supported him in everything else, and despite his own fear of being perceived as repulsive both physically and mentally. Kafka impressed those around him with his boyish, neat, strict appearance, calm and imperturbable behavior, as well as his intelligence and unusual sense of humor.

Kafka's relationship with his oppressive father is an important component of his work, which also resulted from the writer's failure as a family man. Between 1912 and 1917, he courted a Berlin girl, Felicia Bauer, to whom he was twice engaged and twice dissolved the engagement. Communicating with her mainly through letters, Kafka created an image of her that did not correspond to reality at all. And in fact, they were very different people, as is clear from their correspondence. (Kafka’s second bride was Julia Vokhrytsek, but the engagement was again soon called off). In the early 1920s, he had a love relationship with a married Czech journalist, writer and translator of his works, Milena Jesenskaya. In 1923, Kafka, along with nineteen-year-old Dora Dimant, moved to Berlin for several months, hoping to distance himself from family influence and concentrate on writing; then he returned to Prague. Tuberculosis was getting worse at this time, and on June 3, 1924, Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, probably from exhaustion. (A sore throat prevented him from eating, and in those days intravenous therapy was not developed to feed him artificially). The body was transported to Prague, where it was buried on June 11, 1924 at the New Jewish Cemetery.

During his lifetime, Kafka published only a few short stories, which constituted a very small proportion of his work, and his work attracted little attention until his novels were published posthumously. Before his death, he instructed his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, to burn, without exception, everything he had written (except, perhaps, for some copies of the works, which the owners could keep for themselves, but not republish them). His beloved Dora Dimant did destroy the manuscripts that she possessed (although not all), but Max Brod did not obey the will of the deceased and published most of his works, which soon began to attract attention. All of his published work, except for a few Czech-language letters to Milena Jesenskaya, was written in German.