Technology and Franz Kafka: professional experiences and their relevance in his fiction

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the close relation Franz Kafka maintained with the new technologies that emerged in the first years of the twentieth century and to approach some aspects of his professional life which are usually neglected. As Kafka’s job is strongly relevant in his intellectual formation, some details about his position at the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute in Prague become noteworthy. A more accurate investigation of his activities at the institute shows that they weren’t restricted solely to bureaucratic work in the office as it is generally known, but also included tasks at the technical department, such as security inspections at the factories insured by the institute. Thus it becomes clear that Kafka was an expert on machines and motors as well as on the new media like typewriter and gramophone. In addition to the illustrations of some other short examples in his literary work, this text intends to approximate his professional experiences to his fictional writings, analyzing especially the short story where Kafka talks quite plainly about machines: In the penal colony.