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Franz Kafka, narrated by Gregor Samsa.

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Hällo, guten tag! [Gregor Samsa waving]

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So you’ve come to escape the nightmare of reality to enter another man’s life... [Man runs past screaming]

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Good choice.

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As you can imagine, no man or creature is better suited to guide you. [Gregor Samsa in an alley with insect antenna]

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My world is my creator’s: Herr Franz Kafka. [Gregor Samsa points to Franz Kafka with an insect arm]

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As he once said, “As soon as you admit to yourself that it is you yourself, you feel

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as though transfixed and are horrified.”

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Well, prepare to be horrified. [Gregor Samsa now has insect eyes]

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Born July 3, 1883 in Prague, my creator, Franz, was the first of six children. [Franz next to a picture of his sisters]

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It was a brief, bleak life for the Kafka siblings.

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His two brothers died in infancy, and his three sisters were murdered by the Nazis during [The sisters eyes are crossed out]

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the Holocaust, which Franz did not survive long enough to see.

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Franz was raised in a middle-class, Jewish family, though not particularly observant. [Franz in front of a picture of his family]

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Feelings of isolation consumed Herr Kafka’s life.

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He even feared his own father, seeing him as an arrogant brute, though he kept that

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to himself.

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Wisely so.

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Franz attended German language schools up through college, where he eventually studied law. [Franz in school]

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A decent student, but far from a standout, his passion was elsewhere. [Franz on the beach]

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It was in the literary club that he excelled. [Franz at a book reading club]

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Here, Herr Kafka found not only his passion, but also lifelong friends, including Max Brod—his

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eventual literary executor and biographer. [Franz and Max stood together]

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Though I think I’m doing a fine job myself.

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A couple years after graduating college in 1906, young Franz worked at the Workers Auto [Franz in his graduation gown]

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Insurance Institute government agency handling workers’ compensation insurance. [Franz doing paperwork at his desk]

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Very exciting kind of like NFL quarterback...

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The work was in fact inspiring as it sounds.

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As in….it was not. [Franz speaking to his boss]

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It was simply a means to make money.

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Every day consisted of work until early afternoon, then lunch, rest, exercise, and dinner with [Franz doing all his activities]

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the family.

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At the time, Franz still lived at home, which is a nightmare in its own right, no? [Franz stood in front of his house]

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Finally, at about 11PM, there was time to sit down and write until sleep overtook him.

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Despite such a busy schedule, hard work paid off. [Franz is covered in cash]

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After just a few months, Hyperion magazine published his first series of short stories. [Papers of Franz's published stories]

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But that wasn’t enough for Franz.

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Nothing could calm his appetite to write. [Franz writing in his room]

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He even once said, “God does not want me to write, but I—I must.”

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Kafka…the original rebel without a cause.

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In the late 1920s, anti-Semitism began to spread through Eastern Europe. [Hitler in a big hall]

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This deeply upset Herr Kafka.

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His relationship with Judaism was… complicated. [Franz's 'ShmoopBook' page saying his relationship is complicated]

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He admired its writing and theatre, but was

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disgusted by how his identity as a Jew alienated him from what was considered the norm. [Franz looking at the picture of his family]

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This suffering only worsened his depression and anxiety.

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Kafka said: “What an effort to stay alive!

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Erecting a monument does not require the expenditures of so much strength!” [Strong man picks up a statue and puts it down in a field]

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But there was a shining light among the sadness and woe. [Spotlight on Franz]

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In 1912, at Max Brod’s house, Kafka met and fell in love with Felice Bauer. [Franz meeting Felice]

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They exchanged over 500 letters in their five years together. [A pile of the letters they sent to each other]

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That same year, Herr Kafka’s first book, Contemplations—a collection of short stories—

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was published.

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In 1914, he published what many consider to be his most “Kafkaesque” story, [A picture of his book]

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“The Trial”.

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Kafkaesque, as in happy sunshine and rainbows raining skittles. [A guy looking shocked as skittles fall from the sky]

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Just kidding.

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It’s actually more dark rain clouds and spiders and stuff. [Spider appears in front of a dark night sky]

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In “The Trial,” Josef K, the protagonist, is arrested for an unnamed crime. [Josef K in court]

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No one will explain what he was arrested for or why. [Josef in his cell]

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He is then hounded by shadowy authority figures, following him everywhere he goes. [A police officer watching Josef down an alley]

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This dark tale was an eerie foreshadowing of the totalitarian rule that swept Europe [Hitler steps onto stage]

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years later.

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That’s right, in addition to his writing talents, Kafka was a bit of a fortune teller, too. [Kafka reading someone's hand]

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He should have gone into the stock market...

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That April, Kafka overcame his nerves and proposed to Felice… [Franz proposing to Felice]

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And then lost that nerve and broke it off three months later. [Franz telling Felice he has changed his mind]

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3 years later, Kafka realized his mistake and proposed again… [Franz proposing again in the same place]

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Then broke it off again, 5 months later.

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Poor Fräulein Bauer. [Felice looking disappointed]

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Kind of like Penny and Leonard...

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Finally, in December 1915, the world was blessed with Kafka’s greatest work, The Metamorphosis. [Franz writing at his desk]

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This was the only novel my creator completed in his lifetime. [Franz Kafka's book 'Metamorphosis']

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The story is about me, Gregor Samsa. [Gregor Samsa stood in front of a coffee shop]

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I was a simple traveling salesman until I woke to find myself transformed into this:

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a bug… insect… vermin. [Gregor Samsa goes back to his insect form]

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I don’t know how it happened, but I literally transformed into what I have always felt myself [Samsa stood in front of the spooky night sky]

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to be: stranger to my home, stranger to my family, even stranger to myself. [Samsa looking in the mirror]

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I have Herr Kafka’s feelings toward his own life to thank for my metamorphosis.

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There’s so much alienation in this book, it might as well be called E.T.. [Alien in space]

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Anyway, enough about me.

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The next stage of Franz’s life is dreary enough.

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In August of 1917, he began to cough blood—the first sign of tuberculosis. [Franz at the doctor]

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Franz had to take a leave from work – the one perk of being sick – and was taken care [Franz speaking to his boss]

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of by his younger sister, Ottilie.

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He traveled to various sanatoriums throughout Europe. [Franz travelling around a map]

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But his health continued to deteriorate.

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In 1920, knowing death was near, he asked Max Brod to

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burn all but a few of his papers. [Max Brod agreeing]

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Thankfully, Max did not carry out this wish, or I would not be the famous critter I am today.

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A complication of tuberculosis made it painful for Herr Kafka to eat. [Kafka looking at bratwurst]

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Mirroring his main character in “A Starving Artist”, Kafka slowly starved to death. [Kafka collapses]

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On June 1924, Franz Kafka passed away. [Picture of Kafka's grave stone]

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He was 40 years old.

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A short, tragic life—much like the bleak short stories he left behind.

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Alas, he is gone in body, but not in spirit.

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Kafka’s tales of struggle still speak to us today from beyond the grave.

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His pain then is our pain now. [A potato kits Kafka in the head]

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A never-ending search for identity, for love, and for meaning in a world that seems to pay [Girl dressed in black in a dark room]

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no mind to these pains that plague our minds.

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On that uplifting note…

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Have a vunderval day.

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And watch out for rolled-up newspapers. [Samsa is hit by a newspaper]

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