100th anniversary of his death

Franz Kafka: “I am the end or the beginning”

Franz Kafka died in Kierling on June 3, 1924. 100 years later, he is more than ever in the literary limelight.

(Bild: ullstein bild / Ullstein Bild / picturedesk.com)

Around the 100th anniversary of his death on June 3, the writer is more relevant than ever - and has even become a TikTok star.

Franz Kafka had already been suffering from tuberculosis for years, but in 1923 his health deteriorated so dramatically that he was admitted to a sanatorium in Kierling near Klosterneuburg. It was here that he finished his story "The Hunger Artist". A "cruel paradox", according to Kafka expert Reiner Stach in his biography of Kafka, "the story of a man who no longer wants to eat, recorded by a man who can no longer eat".

At Kafka's deathbed, his partner Dora Diamant and his friend Robert Klopstock, an aspiring doctor, watched over him tirelessly. "When Klopstock moved away from the bed to clean something on the syringe, Franz said: 'Don't go away. The friend replied: 'I'm not going away. Franz replied in a low voice: 'But I am going away,'" Max Brod wrote about the final moments.

Franz Kafka took the last photo of himself in a vending machine at the Wertheim department store in Berlin at the beginning of October 1923. He was 40 years old at the time.

(Bild: ullstein bild / Ullstein Bild / picturedesk.com)

Franz Kafka died on June 3, 1924 at the age of 40. And he was almost forgotten. The fact that today, one hundred years after his death, he is celebrated like almost no other writer is thanks to his friend Max Brod.

To be burned without exception and as soon as possible 
The novel fragments "The Trial", "The Castle" and "The Missing Man", like many others, remained unpublished during Kafka's lifetime. Only "The Verdict" and "The Metamorphosis" were works that "endure" for the eternal doubter. "On the other hand, everything else of mine (...) is to be burned without exception and I ask you to do this as soon as possible," he wrote to Brod on his deathbed. He defied this last wish in order to preserve Kafka's work.

A work that still has an impact today - far beyond the German-speaking world. With his Kafkaesque worlds, he found a language that is universally understood. This haunting feeling of being at the mercy of others, the powerlessness in the face of higher powers, the pain of inner contradictions - these are all emotions that are just as appropriate for today as they were back then. Even young people have discovered Franz Kafka as a literary pop star on TikTok. In him, the booktokers who crave anguish and tears think they have discovered a kindred spirit.

"I am the end or the beginning", Kafka once wrote about his work. Posterity has long since answered this question for him . . .

New books around the anniversary of his death:

The Kafka biography in three volumes: It is THE standard work if you want to immerse yourself in Kafka's life and work. Reiner Stach spent a total of 18 years working on this all-encompassing panorama of the Prague writer's life. As profound as it is captivating. "A novel in itself", was the verdict of the writer Imre Kertész.

Kafka biography in three volumes: The Early Years, The Years of Decisions, The Years of Insight, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, 2048 pages in total

(Bild: Suhrkamp Verlag)

The monstrous world in my head: Kafka himself speaks again in the head of a Viennese cab driver. When the dancer Eduardowa, a dream figure from his diaries, gets into his car. A truly Kafkaesque journey begins. Hans Platzgumer's extraordinary tribute to the 100th anniversary of his death.

Die ungeheure Welt in meinem Kopf by Hans Platzgumer, published by Elster & Salis Verlag, 184 pages

(Bild: Elster & Salis Verlag)

Mr. Kafka and the lost doll: An enchanting Kafka legend is told in this lovingly illustrated picture book for children. Shortly before his death, Kafka meets little Irma in a park. She is sad because she has lost her doll Supsi. To console her, he begins to write her letters from Supsi's fictitious trip around the world.

Mr. Kafka and the lost doll, Larissa Theule, Sauerländer Verlag (from 5 years)

(Bild: Sauerländer Verlag)

Completely Kafka: After paying tribute to Thomas Bernhard in a comic biography, Nicolas Mahler now devotes himself to the life of Franz Kafka with his endearing, clever and humorous drawings (see above). It is accompanied by the volume of quotations "Kafka für Boshafte". A somewhat lighter read to get into the Kafkaesque mood.

Complete Kafka, Nocilas Mahler, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, 127 pages

(Bild: Suhrkamp Verlag)

Kafka in quotations:

What I have achieved is only a success of being alone.
Diaries, 1913

I write differently than I speak, I speak differently than I think, I think differently than I should think and so it goes on into the deepest darkness.
Letter to Ottilia Kafka, 10. 7. 1914

Humility gives everyone, even those who despair alone, the strongest relationship with their fellow human beings, and that immediately, but only with complete and constant humility.
Reflections on sin, suffering, hope and the true path

Test yourself against humanity. It makes the doubter doubt, the believer believe.
Reflections on sin, suffering, hope and the true path

The lie is made the world order.
The process

Germany has declared war on Russia.-Afternoon swimming school.
Diaries, August 2, 1914

It is very well conceivable that the glory of life lies around everyone and always ready in all its fullness, but concealed, in the depths, invisible, very far away. But it lies there, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you call it by the right word, by the right name, it comes. That is the essence of magic, which does not create but calls.
Diaries, October 18, 1921

Love is that you are the knife with which I dig inside myself.
Letter to Milena

The longer one hesitates at the door, the stranger one becomes.
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