num_pages: 256
description: Everybody knows the face of Franz Kafka whether they have read any of his works or not. And that brooding face carries instant images: bleak and threatening visions of an inescapable bureaucracy nightmarish transformations uncanny predictions of the Holocaust. But while Kafkas genius is beyond question the image of a mysterious sickly shadowy figure who was scarcely known in his own lifetime bears no resemblance to the historical reality. Franz Kafka was a popular and well-connected millionaires son who enjoyed good-time girls brothels and expensive porn who landed a highly desirable state job that pulled in at least $90000 a year in todays dollars for a six-hour day who remained a loyal member of Pragues German-speaking Imperial elite right to the end and whose work was backed by a powerful literary clique.Here are some of the prevalent Kafka myths:*Kafka was the archetypal genius neglected in his lifetime.*Kafka was lonely.*Kafka was stuck in a dead-end job struggling to find time to write.*Kafka was tormented by fear of sex.*Kafka was unbendingly honest about himself to the women in his life  too honest.*Kafka had a terrible domineering father who had no understanding of his sons needs.*Kafkas style is mysterious and opaque.*Kafka takes us into bizarre worlds.James Hawes wants to tear down the critical walls which generations of gatekeepers---scholars biographers and tourist guides---have built up around Franz Kafka giving us back the real man and the real significance of his splendid works. And he'll take no prisoners in the process.
language: English
title: Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life
publisher: St. Martin's Press