Who is Franz Kafka?

Franz Kafka was a twentieth-century author of short stories and novels like The Castle. Kafka was born in Prague (present-day Czech Republic) in 1883 to an Azhkenazi Jewish family. His parents were merchants and he had three younger sisters and two brothers, although his brothers died during infancy. Kafka studied law at the Charles University in Prague, and there he met Max Brod, who would publish some of Kafka's work posthumously. Though Kafka wrote profusely, he struggled with terrible self-esteem and destroyed much of his work. Despite an estimated ninety percent of Kafka's writing having been burned, his surviving works have had a profound impact on literature. 

Kafka wrote in a characteristically surreal style that blended fantasy with reality, often creating unsettling or even spooky narratives. During his life, Kafka spent most of his time either working or writing. He never married, but did have a few girlfriends. In the final years of his life, Kafka suffered from tuberculosis and eventually died due to complications from the disease in 1924.