The Myth of Sisyphus: Appendix: Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka Summary and Analysis

Franz Kafka's works are intentionally written with an obscure meaning, forcing the reader to carefully read and reread the stories and thus bring out their inner significance. The stories at first seem like disconnected, bizarre series of events. In one book, for example, The Trial, the main character is put on trial, convicted, and executed, without ever knowing what crime he was being charged with and without ever seeming to care very much. This acceptance by the main character is a theme which permeates Kafka's work: What seems surreal and inexplicable to the reader seems perfectly natural to the characters. This lack of surprise parallels the absurd man's acceptance of the meaninglessness of...