Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a Czech-born German-language writer whose work has become so synonymous with the anxieties of the modern age that he earned his own adjective: Kafkaesque.
Kafka’s stories often feature ordinary people trapped in incomprehensible, nightmarish, occasionally surreal situations: individuals must confront alienating circumstances, inscrutable authorities, and labyrinthine institutions.
His fiction has become emblematic of 20th-century existential angst, bureaucratic absurdity, and the uncanny tension between individual freedom and oppressive systems.
Here’s how fellow 20th-century thinker Hannah Arendt describes Kafka’s work, for example, in her 1944 essay Kafka: a Revaluation:
Kafka depicted a society which had established itself as a substitute for God, and he described men who looked upon the laws of society as though they were divine laws — unchangeable through the will of men. In other words, what is wrong with the world in which Kafka's heroes are caught is precisely its deification, its pretense of representing a divine necessity. Kafka wants to destroy this world by exposing its hideous and hidden structure, by contrasting reality and pretense.
Kafka’s narratives burst with philosophical themes, including the paradoxes of identity, the nature of absurdity, the tension between individual freedom and oppressive systems, and the anxiety of the human condition. His influence extends across existentialism, absurdism, post-structuralism, and modern literary theory, inspiring and provoking thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Hannah Arendt, and Jacques Derrida.
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This reading list consists of the best books for getting started with Franz Kafka. After reading it, you’ll understand exactly why Kafka’s work has made such a unique mark in the history of literature.
Despite Kafka’s request that his friend Max Brod burn his unpublished manuscripts, Brod’s decision to publish them posthumously ensured Kafka’s place as a foundational figure of 20th-century literature and existential thought.
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” Thus begins Kafka’s most famous story: first published in 1915, The Metamorphosis is considered to be one of the most significant works of 20th-century fiction.
What appears on the surface to be a rather simple if bizarre narrative usually ends up gripping readers into discussing and trying to interpret its many dark, strange, and haunting undercurrents.
Covering existential themes like alienation, identity, guilt, The Metamorphosis is simply a must read for anyone interested in Kafka or literature generally.
Note: this particular edition of Kafka’s short novella also features seven helpful exploratory essays by writers including Philip Roth, W. H. Auden, and Walter Benjamin. If you’re just looking for Kafka’s fiction, rather than critical analysis of it, you might prefer the third book on this reading list, The Complete Stories, which bundles The Metamorphosis alongside some of Kafka’s other famous short stories.
Written during the height of Kafka’s creative powers and published after his death, The Trial tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested for a crime that is never named, forcing him to navigate a labyrinthine legal system that defies all reason.
Kafka’s most famous novel, The Trial resists easy categorization, blending nightmare logic with a biting critique of power. Scholars and readers alike have spent decades debating whether the narrative is a theological allegory, a psychological study of internalized guilt, or a satire of modern bureaucracy.
For those looking to get into Kafka, this novel provides an essential entry point into the Kafkaesque atmosphere that has come to define so much of 20th-century thought. It’s a profound meditation on an individual’s absurd, disorientating, even comic inability to find truth.
The Complete Stories serves as a comprehensive gateway to Kafka’s shorter fiction, where his unique blend of parable and nightmare logic is at its most concentrated.
This collection brings together all of Kafka’s fiction outside of his novels. It includes pivotal works like The Judgment, which Kafka considered his personal creative breakthrough, and the visceral In the Penal Colony, alongside his most famous narrative, The Metamorphosis.
From intimate psychodramas about family dynamics to broader, more abstract meditations on justice and the body, The Complete Stories contains the full range of Kafka’s voice and style. If you’re interested in his writing, this belongs on your bookshelf!
In The Castle, an outsider known only as K. arrives in a snowy village and attempts to gain validation from the mysterious authorities residing in the overlooking castle, only to find himself trapped in a web of social and administrative obstacles.
This final, unfinished novel is often seen as a companion piece to The Trial. However, where Josef K. is pursued by a legal system he cannot escape, K. is an active seeker who is perpetually excluded from a hierarchy he cannot enter.
While it can be heavy going in places, The Castle contains some of Kafka’s most arresting, challenging, comic, and enigmatic passages.
Turning from Kafka’s fiction, if you’re interested in learning more about his life, look no further than Reiner Stach’s Kafka: The Early Years.
Stach’s three-volume biography, of which this book is one part, is widely regarded as the definitive account of Kafka’s life and historical context. Stach avoids dry recitation, instead recreating the vivid, claustrophobic atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Prague to show how Kafka’s cultural and familial surroundings may have seeded his later literary obsessions.
By grounding Kafka’s surreal narratives in a very real, tangible reality, Stach offers a nuanced perspective on why Kafka’s voice remains so singular. For anyone interested in Kafka’s life and thought, Kafka: The Early Years will prove an invaluable companion.
Further reading
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Jack MadenFounder Philosophy Break
👋 My name’s Jack, and I’m the Founder and Director of Philosophy Break. I’m currently writing a book, The Philosophy Prescription, which is due for publication by Torva (Penguin Random House) in Autumn 2026. Learn more about me and Philosophy Break here.
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