Franz Kafka’s writings paint a picture of the city of Prague through the lens of absurdity and alienation. His works have been so influential, to have even inspired the use of the term “Kafkaesque” to refer to Kafka’s brand of absurdity. Kafka was alive from 1883 to 1924, through the period of the First World War, but died well before the communist regime began in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Kafka’s works were all written in German, his native tongue, yet he lived in Prague, a Czech city. David Černý of the Meet Factory has claimed that Prague was a city of three languages, Czech, German, and Yiddish.[1] In fact, Černý had proposed a statue to reflect the trilingual history of Prague, and proposed using a beetle to symbolize German, his interpretation of Kafka’s creature in the Metamorphosis. In essence, for Černý, Kafka is the most prominent symbol for Prague German. However, Kafka, as a German speaking Jew, would likely not have been described as ethnically Czech[2] – yet in today’s Prague, he is a symbol of the city.

Kafka was a socialist himself, and believed that the state held unnecessary power, and was a believer in the reduction of state power, and a move towards a classless, stateless society as described by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto.[3] Somewhat ironically, the socialist regime in Czechoslovakia – based on a model of Marxist-Leninism rather than what Kafka would have desired – banned Kafka’s works, which were only made publicly available in Prague after the regime ended in 1990.[4] 

Kafka’s literature became incredibly popular in his home city of Prague, as its rejection of state authority provided a criticism of the socialist regime that had reigned over the country for 42 years.[5] [6] Kafka was popular not only in Prague but also with people outside Czechia, especially among German speakers, which provided an opportunity for the city to embrace Kafka’s popularity in the pursuit of tourist revenue.[6] Due to these factors, amongst others, Franz Kafka posthumously cemented himself as the literary ambassador of the city of Prague. The city today has various symbols that reflect Kafka, including statues, monuments, museums, streets, cafes, and more. The appeal of Kafka’s literature has increased even further due to promotion for tourists, and has gained large numbers of readers from the Anglophone world as well.[7]

Kafka was a German speaking Jew who was born in and lived his entire life in Prague. Could he be described as Czech? Or would he be alienated from that definition, as his own literature so often suggests? Has the use of Kafka as a symbol for Prague resulted in some degree of renegotiation of national identity, or maybe city identity? These are some of the main questions we hope to work towards answering through our Digital Mapping Project.

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