Franz Kafka was born in Prague and raised in a German-speaking Jewish family. He grew up navigating overlapping cultural identities that would later inform his work. He studied law at the German University in Prague and went on to work for the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, where he developed a reputation as a diligent and capable employee. Alongside his professional life, he maintained a private but deeply committed writing practice.

Kafka’s fiction is known for its precise, controlled prose and its focus on individuals facing confusing, often oppressive circumstances. His most recognized works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. During his lifetime, however, he published only a small portion of his writing, and his work received limited attention. Much of what is now considered central to his legacy remained unpublished while he was alive.

Kafka died at the age of 40 from complications related to tuberculosis. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy his unpublished manuscripts, but Brod chose to preserve and publish them instead. As a result, Kafka’s work reached a much wider audience after his death, and he is now regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.