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WRITER

Franz Kafka

1883 - 1924

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Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-language novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Franz Kafka has received more than 14,411,212 page views. His biography is available in 165 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 159 in 2019). Franz Kafka is the 14th most popular writer (down from 12th in 2019), the 2nd most popular biography from Czechia (up from 3rd in 2019) and the most popular Czech Writer.

Franz Kafka is most famous for his novels, "The Metamorphosis," "The Trial," and "The Castle."

Memorability Metrics

  • 14M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 85.49

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 165

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.39

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.33

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Metamorphosis
Alienation (Social psychology), Fiction, Criticism and interpretation
The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world.
1946
The Castle
Fiction, Bureaucracy, Castles
The Castle (original title: "Das Schloß") is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.
1930
Amerika
Immigrants in fiction, Adaptations, Translations into English
1927
Short stories
Austrian Short stories, Criticism and interpretation, Fiction
This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes 'Metamorphosis', his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; 'Meditation', a collection of his earlier studies; 'The Judgement', written in a single night of frenzied creativity; 'The Stoker', the first chapter of a novel set in America and a fascinating occasional piece, 'The Aeroplanes at Brescia', Kafka's eyewitness account of an air display in 1909. Together, these stories reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought.
1946
The Trial
Trials, Fiction, German fiction
Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers.
1937
Letters to Milena
Austrian Authors, Authors, Biography
1952

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Franz Kafka ranks 14 out of 7,302. Before him are Lord Byron, Voltaire, Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, and Sophocles. After him are Miguel de Cervantes, Jules Verne, Virgil, Albert Camus, Molière, and Anton Chekhov.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1883, Franz Kafka ranks 2. Before him is Benito Mussolini. After him are John Maynard Keynes, Coco Chanel, Karl Jaspers, Walter Gropius, Joseph Schumpeter, Khalil Gibran, Anton Webern, Jaroslav Hašek, Nikos Kazantzakis, and Lev Kamenev. Among people deceased in 1924, Franz Kafka ranks 2. Before him is Vladimir Lenin. After him are Giacomo Puccini, Anatole France, Woodrow Wilson, Joseph Conrad, Louis Sullivan, Alfred Marshall, Gabriel Fauré, Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Carl Spitteler, and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

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In Czechia

Among people born in Czechia, Franz Kafka ranks 2 out of 1,200. Before him are Sigmund Freud (1856). After him are Gregor Mendel (1822), Antonín Dvořák (1841), Gustav Mahler (1860), Jan Hus (1369), John Amos Comenius (1592), Milan Kundera (1929), Václav Havel (1936), Rainer Maria Rilke (1875), Oskar Schindler (1908), and Bedřich Smetana (1824).

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Among WRITERS In Czechia

Among writers born in Czechia, Franz Kafka ranks 1. After him are Milan Kundera (1929), Václav Havel (1936), Rainer Maria Rilke (1875), Karel Čapek (1890), Jaroslav Hašek (1883), Max Brod (1884), Milena Jesenská (1896), Bohumil Hrabal (1914), Franz Werfel (1890), Jaroslav Seifert (1901), and Karl Kraus (1874).

Czech born Writers

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