Sunday, September 21, 2014

Discovering Franz Kafka Writings And Kafkaesque Art

By Karina Frost


Franz Kafka was a major novelist and short story writer. While he left a large body of work, he had requested it be destroyed upon his death. Fortunately, that did not happen. Instead, much of it has been published posthumously. The most famous and well known of these writings are most likely The Metamorphosis and The Trial. Many artists now create elaborate pieces of horrific or nightmarish art now known as kafkaesque art.

Most of the writer's work expresses the absurdity of society today. In particular, the growth of capitalism and a lack of personal attention when it comes to bureaucracy and red tape. Often, the individuals in his books stand alone in opposition to others' ideologies and lifestyles. Kafkaesque is a label now given to art by artists to describe absurd and surreal characteristics like those found in his many writings.

Whether the writer proclaimed to be religious or otherwise, he had a strong belief that if God did exist, he was dead. He did not buy into the stories of the Trinity, the crucifixion or the ascension. Still, he fell short of identifying as Agnostic even though it appeared he did somewhat believe in the existence of a higher power.

The majority of his work draws a strong comparison between current events and concerns and the individual's relation to society. Franz believed, or at least seem to portray a belief that the world was not only void of meaning but also malevolent toward the individual. The writer also provided the ideology that society is less than hospitable and is overall menacing.

The writer, being from a middle class Germanic Jewish family from Prague has many reasons for his views of society. While he was born to a Germanic Jewish family, he identified as Austrian and Hungarian rather than German. With dual citizenship, he also spoke a second language of Czech though not as well as his native language.

Kafka became quite ill in 1917, he later received a diagnosis of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an illness that requires a great deal of ongoing convalescent care whether in a home or rehabilitation center. After years of treatment, he later moved to Berlin. It was in Berlin where the writer fell in love with a young Jewish girl. Being he was a Germanic Jew, her mother had reservations but liked Kafka so with the blessing of the young girl's mother, the two were married.

Sadly, in 1917, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease which requires a great deal of convalescent care. After several years in treatment, he moved to Berlin and developed a relationship with a Czech journalist. He then lived with a 25 year old teacher from a Jewish family. While not certain about the lack of Faith, her mother loved Kafka, so the young girl and Kafka married.

Like many artists, he suffered from anxiety and depression. While having a somewhat negative belief in medicine, he did try a number of different natural treatments. One in particular, which is thought to have possibly been the reason for the tuberculosis was the large amount of unpasteurized milk he drank during his lifetime. While this may have been the case, it is also believed a vegetarian diet most likely being the reason he lived as long as he did, even after the tuberculosis diagnosis.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment