“Each of us has his own way of emerging from the underworld, mine is by writing. That's why the only way I can keep going, if at all, is by writing, not through rest and sleep. I am far more likely to achieve peace of mind through writing than the capacity to write through peace.”

German-language Jewish writer from Prague

Franz Kafka was a German-language Jewish writer from Prague. He is a major figure of 20th-century literature, known for works that blend realism with the fantastic and for the word Kafkaesque, now used for situations marked by confusion, absurdity, and impersonal power. His best-known books include the novella The Metamorphosis and the novels The Trial and The Castle. He is also remembered for brief fables and aphorisms that often mix comic touches with the darker concerns of his longer fiction, and his writing has influenced many fields beyond literature.