![]() During his lifetime he published relatively little, and many of his works were published posthumously by his friend, Max Brod. He wrote extensively about his “double life” working in insurance during the day and writing at nights and in his free time. He received his Doctor of Law from Karl-Ferdinand University and worked for years in private insurance companies. Kafka was educated in German Language schools and published his books in German – in fact many people mistakenly believe that Kafka was German. “Even years afterward, I still suffered from the tormenting fancy that this enormous man, my father, the ultimate authority could for almost no reason come during the night and take me out of bed and carry me out onto the pavlatche, and that meant that I was a mere nothing to him. Many of his protagonists are up against some sort of overbearing power, often feeling helpless and stuck in the same ways that Kafka described his own relationship with his father. His fear of his father can be sensed in his writing. I did not know, as usual, what to answer, partly out of my fear of you and partly because the cause of this fear consists of too many details for me to put even halfway into words.” You once asked me recently why I claim to be afraid of you. His father was perceived by Franz to be a tyrant with a bad temper. The opening sentence in his “ Letter to Father,” Kafka wrote: ![]() Kafka had a contentious relationship with his parents, in particular with his father. A bronze memorial to Kafka (below) can be found on the walls of the current building where his house used to stand. All that remains as a reminder is the main portal. The home where Kafka was born was damaged in a fire in 1897 and later torn down. This era was a period of considerable development and change in the city and places much of Kafka’s seemingly absurd and surreal work into greater context. ![]() Shortly after Kafka’s birth, a confrontation between Prague Germans and Czech led to the so-called “Foundation-Era” or “Grunderzeit” in Prague. During Kafka’s lifetime, Prague was undergoing many changes as a result of increasing tensions between the German patrician class and the Czech proletariat. In the 1800s, Prague was a city of considerable strategic importance, being situated at the crossroads of multiple trade routes. He was the first son of merchant, Jewish parents Hermann Kafka and his wife Julie. Kafka was born in Prague on July 3, 1883.
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