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Franz Kafka Born
Franz Kafka is born in Prague, Bohemia (now called the Czech Republic). He is the first of six children for Hermann and Julie Lowy Kafka, middle-class Jewish parents.
Kafka had a difficult relationship with both of his parents. His mother, Julie, was a devoted homemaker who lacked the intellectual depth to understand her son's dreams to become a writer. Kafka's father, Hermann, had a forceful personality that often overwhelmed the Kafka home. -
Starts School
Kafka attends the German-language elementary school in Prague. All of his education takes place at German-speaking schools. -
Starts University
Kafka enrolls at Charles-Ferdinand University, a German-speaking university in Prague. After two weeks as a chemistry major, he switc -
Graduates
Kafka receives his law degree from Charles-Ferdinand. He spends a year as an unpaid intern in the criminal courts. -
Starts Work
Kafka accepts his first job as a clerk at Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurance company in Prague. The job is boring, and his night shift makes it hard to keep up with his writing. Kafka hates it. -
Quits Work
Kafka resigns from the insurance agency. Two weeks later, he finds work at a government job handling work -
Interest in Writing and in Judaism
Kafka begins a period of exploration into his Jewish identity, as well as his literary vocation. He attends lectures and theater performances that focus on Jewish issues and writes intensely. He begins his novel Amerika. -
Factory Work
Kafka helps his brother-in-law run an asbestos factory in Prague. 1 -
Meets Future Fiancee
Kafka meets a woman named Felice Bauer at the home of his friend Max Brod. The two develop a romantic relationship conducted -
First Book
Kafka's first book, an anthology of his short stories entitled Contemplation, is published. -
Stories
Kafka publishes the short stories "The Judgment" and "The Stoker." -
Engagement
Kafka proposes to Felice Bauer, but breaks off the engagement just three months later. They rekindle their relationship the following year.
Much of Kafka's personal struggles, in romance and other relationships, came, he believed, in part from his complicated relationship with his father. -
The Trial
Kafka writes the novel The Trial, about a man persecuted for an unknown crime. It is not published until after his death. -
The Metamorphosis
Kafka publishes his most famous work, the novella Metamorphosis. The story, in which the main character wakes up to find himself transformed into an insect, becomes a classic analogy of alienation and displacement.