1. Franz Kafka Kafka on the Shore Existentialism & Transcendentalism

3. Franz Kafka 1883-1924 Born in Prague, Czech Republic
Jewish, middle class
Doctor of Law
No literary attention until after his death
Died of tuberculosis at age of 40
Works published posthumously

4. Kafka Influenced by Socialism Yiddish ( Jewish ) literature
Talmud ( Jewish mystical teachings)
Existentialism leanings
Transcendental metaphysical contemplation

5. Existentialism
a sense of disorientation & confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
the individual is solely responsible for giving his own life meaning and to be done passionately and sincerely despite of existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, & boredom
emphasis is the individual about what constitutes a:
fulfilling life
achievements
obstacles to overcome
what external and internal factors are involved
includes the potential consequences of the existence] or non-existence of God.[

7. Transcendental metaphysical contemplation
reality, or reality as we can know it, is mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial.
reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses
the mind shapes the world we perceive into the form of space-and-time.

9. Now back to Kafka Some believe he had schizoid personality disorder
Speculations regarding his sexual preferences
Anorexia?
Wrote in German
Never finished any of his full length novels
Known to start in middle or last page of note book & write in a random order

10. Characteristics of his work
Ambiguous words/terms
Hopelessness or absurdity
Magical realism
Metaphysical quest for God ( Talmud/ Zohar)
Surrealist humor
People invent their own struggles

11. Famous for The Metamorphosis The Trial The Castle
It’s about a man who wakes up and finds he is changed into a beetle, and how his family reacts to his change. It’s an allegorical short novel about how society view illness, elderly, or societal expectations .

12. Literary mystery: Missing writings
20 notebooks & 35 letters to last GF
Kafka Project San Diego State university
It began in 1998 is an official international search for his lost writings
confiscated by Gestapo in Berlin in 1933
2003 they found 3 letters
2010 found a short story