Connor Owen

Professor Franzese

English 160

09/15/2024

Franz Kafka and the Importance of Meaningful Art

Franz Kafka changed my perspective on finding meaning in art, whether it’s someone else’s or my own art. The first book I read by Kafka was “The Trial.” While at the time, it seemed out of my depth, I am grateful I chose to stick through it and finish it; If I had not, then I would not be where I am right now.

“The Trial” by Franz Kafka changed my perspective on the government, control, and helplessness of humanity. The Trial portrays a young man of middle class status named Josef K. The morning of Josef’s thirtieth birthday, he is arrested by two officers for an unspecified crime and understands that the punishment for this crime, while still unknown to him, will be execution. After this incident, he awaits the court date so he may testify his innocence. Though, every time he attempts to reach out to the court or higher-ups of the law, he is unable to receive any clear answers. He isn’t aware of what crime he is being accused of and is unsuccessful in finding out the answer. In this book, the government is portrayed as an unreachable entity; something you know exists but you are unable to make any contact with. While this being written in 1925 posthumously, its message reflects many future totalitarian regimes instilled by governments.

I was fourteen years old when I read this book for the first time. It was the first book that I had read by Franz Kafka and led me to read most of his published works. When I had first read “The Trial,” I had little understanding of government and philosophical ideas alluded to. I was opened up to many new ideas and an interest in government control and bureaucracy I had previously not been aware of. After this reading, I further pursued literature, especially Franz Kafka’s works including “Metamorphosis,” and his letters to both Milena and his father. His letters especially touched me and I had grown an odd obsession with them.

Franz Kafka’s letters to his father, put into an 80 page paperback, were never published by Kafka himself, but by his best friend years after his death. These letters include personal messages between him and his father, whom he had a complex relationship with since he was a child. Kafka had feared his father from a young age, a fear of vulnerability and a fear of disappointment. This fear controlled his relationship with his father and how he would interact with him. After adulthood he had very little contact with him, and his father had considered him a failed writer, as did Kafka. Kafka’s insecurity over his writing was present until the day he died in which he instructed his best friend to burn all of his works after his death. Obviously, he did not do that as he found potential in his writings, and that’s when he decided to publish his works for him. If he had done as instructed, some of the greatest works in the last century of literature may have never existed to the public. I feel like this holds a very strong message, one of which resonated with me at a young age and encouraged me to pursue writing further. One must hold pride and confidence in their writings, no matter if they feel the piece might not be as accepted by others. If you create something that is meaningful to you, then you have succeeded as an artist. I have internalized this idea and implemented it into any form of art I choose to indulge in. Whether it’s painting, writing, or music, I firmly hold this belief and it makes me feel proud of the art I’ve created. The idea that what I create matters as long as it is important to me changed how I view art as a whole.

The complexities of art cannot be understood by anyone except for the creator of said art. While I say this, I do not believe art has a designated singular meaning that everyone must try to understand. While some believe “The Trial” by Franz Kafka is a statement on the current state of the government and totalitarianism as a whole, if someone else believed it represented the food chain for example, that would be a valid interpretation of an art piece as long as they show evidence to prove how they made it to this conclusion. Humans may find art in anything, the best gift god has given us is for a lucky few of us to see it in everything.