Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German-language writer born in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Working for most of his life as an insurance official, he wrote fiction in his spare time that was largely unpublished during his lifetime — much of it appeared posthumously, against his wishes, thanks to his friend and literary executor Max Brod.

His novella The Metamorphosis (translated into Indonesian as Metamorfosis) tells the story of a traveling salesman who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect — a haunting allegory of alienation, family obligation, and the absurdity of modern life.

Kafka's work, marked by anxiety, bureaucratic nightmare, and surreal logic, gave rise to the adjective "Kafkaesque" and remains foundational to twentieth-century literary fiction and existentialist thought.