Sixty years after his death, Kafka epitomizes one aspect of this modern mind-set: a sensation of anxiety and shame whose center cannot be located and therefore cannot be placated; a sense of an infinite difficulty within things, impeding every step; a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness, as if the nervous system, flayed of its old hide of social usage and religious belief, must record every touch as pain. In Kafka's peculiar and highly original case, this dreadful quality is mixed with immense tenderness, oddly good humor, and a certain severe and reassuring formality. The combination makes him an artist; but rarely can an artist have struggled against greater inner resistance and more sincere diffidence as to the worth of his art." Among Kafka's most-studied works are the novels
The Trial and
The Castle and the short stories "The Metamorphosis," "The Hunger Artist," and "In the Penal Colony."
Experiences Social Prejudice Early in Life
Kafka was born into a Jewish family in the city of Prague in 1883.
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