Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Kafkaesque Art And The Writings Of Franz Kafka

By Karina Frost


Kafka was a major figure in his day. His writings include several well known publications. Two of these being The Trial and The Metamorphosis. While these are two of his most well known works, he left behind a large body of work at the time of his death. In fact, much of his other works have since been published posthumously. A number of artists have now incorporated images from his writings into work 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.

Kafka seems to portray a world in which God is dead, if present at all, with the individual on trial for crimes in a past life. The trial, to survive the world which has become void of purpose or meaning. Regardless of beliefs, individuals can still find references to religious and spiritual aspects in his work.

Franz Kafka was born to a Germanic Jewish family in Prague. At that time, still the capital of Bohemia. He identified as both Hungarian and Austrian with German being his native tongue. While fluent in German, he also spoke a second language of Czech though it is reported that his Czech dialect and vocabulary could have used a bit of polishing by other writers fluent in the language.

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.

Franz delved into a number of different interests. At first, he was admitted to Charles University where he studied chemistry. Later, he switched to law. In doing so, he felt there would be far more career opportunities. It was at Charles University where he also joined a literary group and developed a love for writing. With a combination of English, chemistry, law and science, it almost seemed as if the sky was the limit when it came to opportunities.

With some artists, anxiety and depression are inspiring conditions. While this is the case, it is both good and bad for the success of artistic works. The writings of Kafka often provide dark horrific images and surreal scenes. Images which can often evoke either a positive or negative reaction.

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.




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