What is "Kafkaesque"? by Jessica Longstreth

The class recently read the book The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and to say the least, it was a very strange book. It had a rather abrupt ending and after I closed the novella I found myself thinking, Wow, that was just a really sad and depressing story. Most of all, I wondered, what was going on in Kafka's mind when he wrote The Metamorphosis? There seems to be no explanation as to why the main character, Gregor Samsa, wakes up as a beetle in the first place, and the longer he remains in his insect form, the less his family views him as a person, a son, and a brother. As time went on, Gregor just seemed to become a burden for the family, and when the starved beetle-Gregor dies, they just seem relieved. Not mournful of the loss of a loved one, but only relieved.

These dim and depressing aspects of The Metamorphosis is exactly what fits the definition of the term "Kafkaesque". To be exact, the definition of Kafkaesque would be anything "characteristic or reminiscent of the oppressive or nightmarish qualities of Franz Kafka's fictional world". Today, Franz Kafka's works have become so influential, that this term as been coined after him. Such nightmarish and oppressive qualities are a common occurrence in Kafka's writing. From Gregor of The Metamorphosis, to the outcome of Joseph K. in Kafka's The Trial, Kafka's world of literature is best identified by such bleak thoughts.

But what one really has to ask about Kafka is what inspired him to pour so much doom and gloom into his writing? Sure, his works didn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows -- but does Kafka's work really reflect his opinion of life and human nature? For now, I can only infer what Kafka's view of the world was, and from what I can tell, it was not a pretty one.