Editing Franz Kafka (section)

=== Critical interpretations ===

The British-American poet [[W. H. Auden]] called Kafka "the [[Dante]] of the twentieth century";{{sfn|Bloom|2002|p=206}} the novelist [[Vladimir Nabokov]] placed him among the greatest writers of the 20th century.{{sfn|Durantaye|2007|pp=315–317}} [[Gabriel García Márquez]] noted the reading of Kafka's ''The Metamorphosis'' showed him "that it was possible to write in a different way".{{sfn|Kafka-Franz|2012}}{{sfn|Paris Review|2012}} A prominent theme of Kafka's work, first established in the short story "Das Urteil",{{sfn|Gale Research|1979|pp=288–311}} is father–son conflict: the guilt induced in the son is resolved through suffering and atonement.{{sfn|Brod|1960|pp=15–16}}{{sfn|Gale Research|1979|pp=288–311}} Other prominent themes and archetypes include alienation, physical and psychological brutality, characters on a terrifying quest, and mystical transformation.{{sfn|Bossy|2001|p=100}}

Kafka's style has been compared to that of Kleist as early as 1916, in a review of "Die Verwandlung" and "Der Heizer" by Oscar Walzel in ''Berliner Beiträge''.{{sfn|Furst|1992|p=83}} The nature of Kafka's prose allows for varied interpretations and critics have placed his writing into a variety of literary schools.{{sfn|Socialist Worker|2007}} [[Marxists]], for example, have sharply disagreed over how to interpret Kafka's works.{{sfn|Lib.com|2008}}{{sfn|Socialist Worker|2007}} Some accused him of distorting reality whereas others claimed he was critiquing capitalism.{{sfn|Socialist Worker|2007}} The hopelessness and absurdity common to his works are seen as emblematic of [[existentialism]].{{sfn|Sokel|2001|pp=102–109}} Some of Kafka's books are influenced by the [[expressionist]] movement, though the majority of his literary output was associated with the experimental [[Literary modernism|modernist]] genre. Kafka also touches on the theme of human conflict with bureaucracy. William Burrows claims that such work is centred on the concepts of struggle, pain, solitude, and the need for relationships.{{sfn|Burrows|2011}} Others, such as [[Thomas Mann]], see Kafka's work as allegorical: a quest, metaphysical in nature, for God.{{sfn|Panichas|2004|pp=83–107}}{{sfn|Gray|1973|p=3}}<!-- -{{sfn|Mann|Heller|1981|p={{page needed | date = August 2012 }}}} uncomment when page ref found- -->

According to [[Gilles Deleuze]] and [[Félix Guattari]], the themes of alienation and persecution, although present in Kafka's work, have been overemphasised by critics. They argue that Kafka's work is more deliberate and subversive—and more joyful—than may first appear. They point out that reading Kafka while focusing on the futility of his characters' struggles reveals Kafka's humour; he is not necessarily commenting on his own problems, but rather pointing out how people tend to invent problems. In his work, Kafka often creates malevolent, absurd worlds.{{sfn|Kavanagh|1972|pp=242–253}}{{sfn|Rahn|2011}} Kafka read drafts of his works to his friends, typically concentrating on his humorous prose. The writer [[Milan Kundera]] suggests that Kafka's [[surreal humour|surrealist humour]] may have been an inversion of Dostoevsky's presentation of characters who are punished for a crime. In Kafka's work, a character is punished although a crime has not been committed. Kundera believes that Kafka's inspirations for his characteristic situations came both from growing up in a patriarchal family and from living in a totalitarian state.{{sfn|Kundera|1988|pp=82–99}}

Attempts have been made to identify the influence of Kafka's legal background and the role of law in his fiction.{{sfn|Glen|2007}}{{sfn|Banakar|2010}} Most interpretations identify aspects of law and legality as important in his work,{{sfn|Glen|2011|pp=47–94}} in which the legal system is often oppressive.{{sfn|Hawes|2008|pp=216–218}} The law in Kafka's works, rather than being representative of any particular legal or political entity, is usually interpreted to represent a collection of anonymous, incomprehensible forces. These are hidden from the individual but control the lives of the people, who are innocent victims of systems beyond their control.{{sfn|Glen|2011|pp=47–94}} Critics who support this [[absurdism|absurdist]] interpretation cite instances where Kafka describes himself in conflict with an absurd universe, such as the following entry from his diary:

{{blockquote|Enclosed in my own four walls, I found myself as an immigrant imprisoned in a foreign country;... I saw my family as strange aliens whose foreign customs, rites, and very language defied comprehension;... though I did not want it, they forced me to participate in their bizarre rituals;... I could not resist.{{sfn|Preece|2001|pp=15–31}}}}

However, James Hawes argues many of Kafka's descriptions of the legal proceedings in {{lang|de|Der Process}}—metaphysical, absurd, bewildering and nightmarish as they might appear—are based on accurate and informed descriptions of German and Austrian criminal proceedings of the time, which were [[inquisitorial]] rather than [[Adversarial system|adversarial]].{{sfn|Hawes|2008|pp=212–214}} Although he worked in insurance, as a trained lawyer Kafka was "keenly aware of the legal debates of his day".{{sfn|Banakar|2010}}{{sfn|Ziolkowski|2003|p= 224}} In an early 21st-century publication that uses Kafka's office writings as its point of departure,{{sfn|Corngold et al.|2009|pp=xi, 169, 188, 388}} Pothik Ghosh states that with Kafka, law "has no meaning outside its fact of being a pure force of domination and determination".{{sfn|Ghosh|2009}}