PREFACE

This study aims to locate the 'existential crisis' in Franz Kafka (1883-1924). The very term 'existentialism' generally gives rise to a morbid world view, as existentialism is generally regarded as a philosophy dwelling in despair and dealing with issues of guilt, death, finitude, anxiety, and nothingness. During his brief but eventful life, Kafka has been an observer and recorder of life through his fragments, parables, aphorisms, letters, diaries, short stories and three novels. His first novel Amerika, spelt with a 'k' instead of 'c' was deliberate to introduce an element of foreignness, was written between 1911 to 1914. Between Sentember 1912 and earlv 1913 much of ·--~ -~~--""