On this day, July 3, in 1883, Franz Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. 
Immortalized for his novella The Metamorphosis and for his influence on existentialism, his very name conjures images of alienation, nightmares, disorientation and dystopia. Born into a country struggling between German and Czech nationality, he himself had a complicated relationship with his father, was conflicted about being a Jew, and struggled with having to maintain a day job (at an insurance company) when he wanted to be writing. He also was driven by sexual desire and engaged in multiple affairs but was highly anxious of his own body image and how others perceived him. The poor man died at age 40 of tuberculosis, but he literally died of starvation; his throat had become too constricted to eat.
