Kafka

American  

[kahf-kah, -kuh] / ˈkɑf kɑ, -kə /

noun

1. Franz 1883–1924, Austrian novelist and short-story writer, born in Prague.

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Kafka British  

/ ˈkæfkə, ˌkæfkəˈɛsk, ˈkafka /

noun

1. Franz (frants). 1883–1924, Czech novelist writing in German. In his two main novels The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926), published posthumously against his wishes, he portrays man's fear, isolation, and bewilderment in a nightmarish dehumanized world

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Other Word Forms

• Kafkaesque
  adjective

Example Sentences

Ms. Hruska reminds us of Brod’s claim that Kafka reduced his friends to helpless laughter when he read his story about a man who woke up transformed into an insect.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Vialatte, who spent decades bringing Kafka into French, was particularly attuned to the comedy of the writing, the mirth it took in absurdity.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Like Kafka, Schulz sublimated the horrors that surrounded him into vivid allegories of the fantastic and the extraordinary.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Kafka and Jesenská did finally meet for a getaway in 1920, but being together in person seems to have ruined the magic.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

On the evidence of ears, chin, and cheekbones I might be a baby Kafka.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides