“It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.”

Franz Kafka was a Czech-German writer of the early 20th century. His surreal, existential works—including *The Metamorphosis* and *The Trial*—explore alienation, bureaucracy, and the absurdity of modern life. The term "Kafkaesque" now describes oppressive, labyrinthine systems.