| 1883 |
July 3: Franz Kafka is born in
Prague, son of Hermann Kafka and Julie, née Löwy. |
| 1889 |
Enters a German primary school. Birth of his
sister Elli Kafka, his first surviving sibling. |
| 1892 |
Birth of his sister Ottla Kafka. |
| 1893 |
Enters the Old City German Secondary School in
Prague. |
| 1896 |
June 13: Bar mitzvah—described in family
invitation as “Confirmation.” |
| 1897 |
Anti-Semitic riots in Prague; Hermann Kafka’s dry
goods store is spared. |
| 1899–1903 |
Early writings (destroyed). |
| 1901 |
Graduates from secondary school. Enters German
University in Prague. Studies chemistry for two weeks, then
law. |
| 1902 |
Spring: Attends lectures on German literature and
the humanities. Travels to Munich, planning to continue German
studies there. Returns to Prague. October: First meeting with Max
Brod. |
| 1904 |
Begins writing “Description of a Struggle.” |
| 1905 |
Vacation in Zuckmantel, Silesia. First love
affair. |
| 1906 |
Clerk in uncle’s law office. June: Doctor of Law
degree. |
| 1906–1907 |
Legal practice in the Landesgericht
(provincial high court) and Strafgericht (criminal
court). |
| 1907–1908 |
Temporary position in the Prague branch of the
private insurance company Assicurazioni Generali. |
| 1908 |
March: Kafka’s first publication: eight prose
pieces appear in the review Hyperion. July 30: Enters the
semi-state-owned Workers Accident Insurance Company for the Kingdom
of Bohemia in Prague; works initially in the statistical and claims
departments. Spends time in coffeehouses and cabarets. |
| 1909 |
Begins keeping diaries. April: Kafka’s department
head lauds his “exceptional faculty for conceptualization.”
September: Travels with Max and Otto Brod to northern Italy, where
they see airplanes for the first time. Writes article “The
Aeroplanes in Brescia,” which subsequently appears in the daily
paper Bohemia. Frequent trips to inspect factory
conditions in the provinces. |
| 1910 |
May: Promoted to Concipist (junior legal
advisor); sees Yiddish acting troupe. October: Vacations in Paris
with Brod brothers. |
| 1911 |
Travels with Max Brod to northern Italy and Paris;
spends a week in a Swiss natural-health sanatorium. Becomes a
silent partner in the asbestos factory owned by his brother-in-law.
October 4: Sees Yiddish play Der Meshumed (The Apostate)
at Café Savoy. Friendship with the Yiddish actor Yitzhak Löwy.
Pursues interest in Judaism. |
| 1912 |
February 18: Gives “little introductory lecture”
on Yiddish language. August: Assembles his first book,
Meditation; meets Felice Bauer. Writes the stories “The Judgment” and “The Transformation”
(frequently entitled “The Metamorphosis” in English), begins the
novel The Man Who Disappeared (first published in 1927 as
Amerika, the title chosen by Brod). October: Distressed
over having to take charge of the family’s asbestos factory,
considers suicide. December: Gives first public reading (“The
Judgment”). |
| 1913 |
Extensive correspondence with Felice Bauer, whom
he visits three times in Berlin. Promoted to company vice
secretary. Takes up gardening. In Vienna attends international
conference on accident prevention and observes Eleventh Zionist
Congress; travels by way of Trieste, Venice, and Verona to
Riva. |
| 1914 |
June: Official engagement to Felice Bauer. July:
Engagement is broken. Travels through Lübeck to the Danish resort
of Marielyst. Diary entry, August 2: “Germany has declared war on
Russia—swimming club in the afternoon.” Works on The
Trial; writes “In the Penal Colony.” |
| 1915 |
January: First meeting with Felice Bauer after
breaking engagement. March: At the age of thirty-one moves for the
first time into own quarters. November: “The Transformation” (“The
Metamorphosis”) appears; Kafka asks a friend: “What do you say
about the terrible things that are happening in our house?” |
| 1916 |
July: Ten days with Felice Bauer at Marienbad.
November: In a small house on Alchemists’ Lane in the Castle
district of Prague begins to write the stories later collected in
A Country Doctor. |
| 1917 |
Second engagement to Felice Bauer. September:
Diagnosis of tuberculosis. Moves back into his parents’ apartment.
Goes to stay with his favorite sister, Ottla,
on a farm in the northern Bohemian town of Zürau. December: Second
engagement to Felice Bauer is broken. |
| 1918 |
In Zürau writes numerous aphorisms about “the last
things.” Reads Kierkegaard. May: Resumes work at insurance
institute. |
| 1919 |
Summer: To the chagrin of his father, announces
engagement to Julie Wohryzek, daughter of a synagogue custodian.
Takes Hebrew lessons from Friedrich Thieberger. November: Wedding
to Julie Wohryzek is postponed. Writes “Letter to His Father.” |
| 1920 |
Promotion to institute secretary. April:
Convalescence vacation in Merano, Italy; beginning of
correspondence with Milena Jesenská. May: Publication of A
Country Doctor, with a dedication to Hermann Kafka. July:
Engagement to Julie Wohryzek broken. November: Anti-Semitic riots
in Prague; Kafka writes to Milena: “Isn’t the obvious course to
leave a place where one is so hated?” |
| 1921 |
Sanatorium at Matliary in the Tatra mountains
(Slovakia). August: Returns to Prague. Hands all his diaries to
Milena Jesenská. |
| 1922 |
Diary entry, January 16: Writes about nervous
breakdown. January 27: Travels to Spindlermühle, a resort on the
Polish border, where begins to write The Castle. March 15:
Reads beginning section of novel to Max Brod. November: After
another breakdown, informs Brod that he can no longer “pick up the
thread.” |
| 1923 |
Resumes Hebrew studies. Sees Hugo Bergmann, who
invites him to Palestine. July: Meets nineteen-year-old Dora
Diamant in Müritz on the Baltic Sea. They dream of opening a
restaurant in Tel Aviv, with Dora as cook and
Franz as waiter. September: Moves to inflation-ridden Berlin to
live with Dora. Writes “The Burrow.” |
| 1924 |
Health deteriorates. March: Brod takes Kafka back
to Prague. Kafka writes “Josephine the Singer.” April 19:
Accompanied by Dora Diamant, enters Dr. Hoffman’s sanatorium at
Kierling, near Vienna. Corrects the galleys for the collection of
stories A Hunger Artist. June 3: Kafka dies at age forty.
June 11: Burial in the Jewish Cemetery in Prague-Strašnice. |
