You likely know Franz Kafka as the master of nightmarish bureaucracy and giant insects. However, this Prague native was far more than just a gloomy figure writing in the dark. In reality, he was a health-obsessed vegetarian who loved swimming and widely amused his friends with his humor. Furthermore, he worked as a highly successful insurance lawyer who saved lives with his safety policies. Prepare to see the human side of the literary legend through these surprising insights.
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a health fanatic who followed the “Fletcherism” method. He chewed each mouthful of food dozens of times until it became liquid. Consequently, his father often hid behind a newspaper at dinner to avoid watching him eat.
He laughed uncontrollably when he read The Trial to his friends. While we consider his work terrifying today, he found the absurdity of the situations hilarious. Thus, he often could not finish reading because he was laughing too hard.
Professionally, he was an excellent insurance lawyer. He worked at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute and won several promotions. In fact, his policies helped reduce industrial accidents for workers across the region.
He practiced a strange exercise routine called the “Müller system.” Every morning and evening, he performed calisthenics naked in front of an open window. He believed this exposure to fresh air would strengthen his weak body.
Tragically, he asked his best friend to burn all his unpublished writing. Max Brod ignored this dying wish and published the masterpieces instead. Therefore, the world has The Trial and The Castle only because of a broken promise.
Franz Kafka strictly forbade an illustrator from drawing the insect in The Metamorphosis. He wrote a letter insisting that the creature could not be depicted visually. He wanted the reader to imagine the horror without a concrete image.
Romantically, he was engaged to the same woman twice. He proposed to Felice Bauer, broke it off, and then got engaged to her again later. ultimately, he never married her or anyone else during his lifetime.
He lived with his parents for almost his entire life. Despite his job and age, he stayed in the cramped family apartment until he was thirty-one. This lack of privacy contributed significantly to his writing themes of entrapment.
Franz Kafka became a vegetarian after looking at a fish in an aquarium. He told the fish that he could finally look at it in peace because he no longer ate it. This decision was very rare and unusual for his time.
He wrote a 47-page letter to his father that he never sent. In this Letter to His Father, he poured out all his childhood trauma and fear. However, his mother read it and refused to pass it on to her husband.
A myth claims he invented the industrial hard hat. While he did improve safety standards significantly, no concrete evidence proves he created the helmet. Nevertheless, the American Safety Society credited him with the invention for years.
Franz Kafka learned Hebrew intensely later in his life. He dreamed of moving to Palestine and starting a new life as a waiter. Unfortunately, his declining health prevented him from ever making the journey.
His final girlfriend actually burned some of his work. Unlike Max Brod, Dora Diamant respected his wishes and destroyed several notebooks. Consequently, those specific stories are lost to history forever.
He had a deep fear of mice. The sound of them scratching in the walls kept him awake at night. This phobia likely influenced his story Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk.
Finally, he died relatively unknown. He published only a few short stories during his life. Fame arrived only after World War II, when his sisters died in the Holocaust and his works resurfaced.
