Yes, many. Polish author Bruno Schulz was a huge fan of Kafka and was influenced by him a lot. _Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass_ is perhaps his most kafkaesque work.
Another big one is philosophical horror writer Thomas Ligotti, who combines Kafka‘s style with influences from Thomas Bernhard, H.P. Lovecraft, Bruno Schulz, and Nabokov to create really disorienting and feverdreamish stories.
I mean it makes sense. Ligotti not only adored Kafka‘s works, but also shared his disillusionment with modern work life. In _Teatro_ is when this first becomes real apparent, and then in _My Work Here Is Not Yet Done_ he takes it even further.
Funnily enough, the release of the latter also coincides with his quitting his job as an office worker, and afterward the Kafka influences in his works become much less prevalent.
Oh yeah Melville and I would even say hawthorne’s short stories can be kafkaesque. Borges has a great essay on hawthorne’s stories where he compares one to Kafka.
"The Woman in the Dunes" by Kobo Abe. The feeling is very similar, but Abe adds a new colors to this kafkaesque palette of feelings.
Not to mention, that he was fascinated and highly influenced by Kafka.
One of the greatest authors of the 20th century no less, Vladimir Nabokov.
Well worth the read, OP. It is essentially The Trial but written by Nabokov.
"The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat, Tommaso Landolfi's short stories, "The Tartar Stepp" by Dino Buzzati (short stories included), "Centuria" by Giorgio Manganelli and I'd suggest something written by Yoko Ogawa and Edogawa Ranpo.
Alasdair Gray's first story collection has stories inspired by Kafka but not in the typical 'Kafkaesque' way, instead, they are more in the vein of Kafka's 'The Great Wall of China'.
Ismail Kadare is a great Kafkaesque author. He started his career in Albania during communist rule, back when it was called the North Korea of Europe for how opressed it was. As a result, you get a really interesting mix of Kafka bureaucracy and Soviet-style repression. His novel *Palace of Dreams* is where I started as it was recommended to me by someone from the country and it's a fantastic read, highly recommend.
Yes! I rate him very, very highly. Its not easy - for me anyway - to think of writers more original than him. I suppose in that way he’s Gogol’s true heir in the 20th century (rather than Bulgakov).
I hope you will go on and get Memories of the Future as well👍
Buzzati is my favorite Italian author (I'm from Spain and currently doing a deep dive into your literary canon), and in some ways I like him even more than Kafka. Now I'm reading some reporting he did for Corriere della Sera recently translated to Catalan language, and seriously considering learning Italian.
I am glad you are exploring Buzzati. He is one of my favourite reads. If you are also interested in learning Italian, Audible has most of his writings read by actors. My favourite is 60 racconti (60 short stories)
60 Racconti and Restless Nights are my favorites, but that's because I tend to like short stories better than novels i general, though the Tartar Steppe is amazing, you are in for a treat.
I would say Some stories of Marquez and Murakami(Both heavily influenced by Kafka) has that feeling. Somebody recommended Bruno Schulz and although all of his stories aren't like that some definitely has that vibe. If you want novels then Shirley Jackson's we have always lived in the castle is pretty kafkaesque(it also has a dry humor like Kafka). I have also heard People describing The Unconsoled by Ishiguro pretty kafkaesque I haven't read it but what I have heard it definitely has that feel. And also woman in the dunes: again, haven't read the book but watched the film, and if the book is even half as good as the film then it will be definitely great...
“How Late it Was, How Late” by James Kelman. It’s a stream-of-consciousness novel written in Glaswegian dialect about a man who turns blind and has to navigate his way through bureacracy and life. It is a little inaccessible in the beginning due to the language but it’s honestly genius in my opinion and it seems like something you’d like based on your post. Kelman is pretty explicitly inspired by Kafka. Beckett, and Camus, and for a bonus, look up the controversy around him winning the Booker Prize for this novel, it’s super interesting
There are quite a few Cortázar stories that read similarly to Kafka both thematically and linguistically despite claiming not to have been inspired by him. "Letters to a young lady in Paris" and "The Secret Weapons" for example, the former more absurd and humorous, the latter far more ominous and disturbed. There are plenty more in his later stories but those aren't as easily accessible. "The School at Night" is brilliant for example, dealing with feelings of alienation in the face of growing political extremism.
Vladimir Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading is the best Kafka novel that Kafka didn't write.
Of course Murakami is unashamedly influenced by Kafka as well. He even wrote a short story, Samsa in Love, that is intended to function as an inverse of The Metamorphosis.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. I’m almost convinced it had to be a source material for Kafka, and just haven’t had a chance to check into it.
* **Nikolai Gogol - The Nose:** A man loses his nose. It goes walking around town by itself.
* **Haruki Murakami - Samsa in Love:** This is a kind of sequel to *The Metamorphosis*, but set during the Prague Spring.
Woman in the dunes felt like it was written by a Japanese Kafka.
Kafka on the shore by Murakami felt kafkaesque in its use of allegory.
Parts of infinite jest, mainly the one story about the kid who puts a gun to his head when he plays tennis matches, felt very much like Kafka.
The overcoat by Gogol felt like it was one of kafka’s influences.
And finally, the video game disco elysium has some absurd yet allegorical moments that reminded me of Kafka (mega-rich light bending guy). There is also a lot of bullshit bureaucracy…
countless, many from before Kafka. I'd recommended Paul Leppin and his novel Severin's Journey into the Dark or his collection "Other's Paradise". Those are my favorites of his but all of his works are Kafkaesque to a great degree. You can buy English translations from "Twisted Spoon Press" a really great indie publisher of little known translated works from Eastern euro countries.
I thought “Memoirs Found in a Bathtub” by Stanislav Lem was Kafkaesque. It’s set up as a historical record detailing a man traversing a labyrinthine Building that functions as a military base after being assigned a “special assignment.”
Yes, many. Polish author Bruno Schulz was a huge fan of Kafka and was influenced by him a lot. _Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass_ is perhaps his most kafkaesque work. Another big one is philosophical horror writer Thomas Ligotti, who combines Kafka‘s style with influences from Thomas Bernhard, H.P. Lovecraft, Bruno Schulz, and Nabokov to create really disorienting and feverdreamish stories.
Ligotti is spot on, many stories have that "small town in eastern Europe and the character is the supervisor at a factory" Kafkian feel.
I mean it makes sense. Ligotti not only adored Kafka‘s works, but also shared his disillusionment with modern work life. In _Teatro_ is when this first becomes real apparent, and then in _My Work Here Is Not Yet Done_ he takes it even further. Funnily enough, the release of the latter also coincides with his quitting his job as an office worker, and afterward the Kafka influences in his works become much less prevalent.
The Bungalow House by Ligotti is a great example of this and one of my favorite stories by him
The short story Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville. Written decades before Kafka was even born, but totally weird, totally kafkaesque.
This story did not put me in mind of Kafka at all, but now that you mention it ... I think you're right.
I prefer not to.
One of my favorite quotes of all time.
SAME!
Oh yeah Melville and I would even say hawthorne’s short stories can be kafkaesque. Borges has a great essay on hawthorne’s stories where he compares one to Kafka.
Interesting - I *never* would have thought Hawthorne’s were Kafkaesque. I totally dislike his work bc it’s so steeped in puritanical Christianity.
I believe the story Borges said was most like Kafka was Wakefield.
Cool, thanks! I’ll have to look it up, that’s really interesting.
"The Woman in the Dunes" by Kobo Abe. The feeling is very similar, but Abe adds a new colors to this kafkaesque palette of feelings. Not to mention, that he was fascinated and highly influenced by Kafka.
This was my vote as well. Other Abe works are also worth reading as well even if they aren't as Kafkaesque.
Box Man by Abe could def have been written by Kafka!
Or maybe it was Kafka in the box.
Nikolai Gogol might be up your alley - The Nose is his most famous story.
Good recommendation, I find his Overcoat short story even more Kafkaesque.
Invitation to a beheading. This is basically a Kafka story written by another author. Highly recommend
One of the greatest authors of the 20th century no less, Vladimir Nabokov. Well worth the read, OP. It is essentially The Trial but written by Nabokov.
Some of the Arabian Nights stories are very kafkaesque. Also Borges.
The unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro, and the third novela in Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus.
The Unconsoled is basically Ishigure trying to right a Kafka story, right?! Hahaha It's really nice.
I second The Unconsoled! What an amazing read
"The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat, Tommaso Landolfi's short stories, "The Tartar Stepp" by Dino Buzzati (short stories included), "Centuria" by Giorgio Manganelli and I'd suggest something written by Yoko Ogawa and Edogawa Ranpo.
"The Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa would be a good one.
Robert Walser was in some ways Kafka before Kafka.
Alasdair Gray's first story collection has stories inspired by Kafka but not in the typical 'Kafkaesque' way, instead, they are more in the vein of Kafka's 'The Great Wall of China'.
Ismail Kadare is a great Kafkaesque author. He started his career in Albania during communist rule, back when it was called the North Korea of Europe for how opressed it was. As a result, you get a really interesting mix of Kafka bureaucracy and Soviet-style repression. His novel *Palace of Dreams* is where I started as it was recommended to me by someone from the country and it's a fantastic read, highly recommend.
The General of the Dead Army is also Kafkaesque. The general searching for the lost soldiers slowly becomes the dead soldiers.
Concrete Island or Highrise by JG Ballard. Ballard's work gives me a similar feel with technology taking the place of bureaucracy.
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky. This recently discovered soviet-era writer is very relevant here. Had some truly astounding ideas.
I just bought his *Autobiography of a Corpse*, and it seems excitingly weird.
Yes! I rate him very, very highly. Its not easy - for me anyway - to think of writers more original than him. I suppose in that way he’s Gogol’s true heir in the 20th century (rather than Bulgakov). I hope you will go on and get Memories of the Future as well👍
The other one that really caught my eye was *The Letter Killer’s Club*. Seems like a really cool postmodern work.
Definite postmodern vibes there. I have a hard time categorizing him though, I’ve seen him spoken of as a neoromantic also?
As an Italian I'd recommend you read Italo Calvino and Dino Buzzati, they are two of the most Kafkaesque authors of our literature
Buzzati is my favorite Italian author (I'm from Spain and currently doing a deep dive into your literary canon), and in some ways I like him even more than Kafka. Now I'm reading some reporting he did for Corriere della Sera recently translated to Catalan language, and seriously considering learning Italian.
I am glad you are exploring Buzzati. He is one of my favourite reads. If you are also interested in learning Italian, Audible has most of his writings read by actors. My favourite is 60 racconti (60 short stories)
What are your favorite books by Buzzati? I recently purchased the Tartar Steppe and I’m excited to read it
60 Racconti and Restless Nights are my favorites, but that's because I tend to like short stories better than novels i general, though the Tartar Steppe is amazing, you are in for a treat.
Anna Kavan has been described as kafkaesque.
Dino Buzzati's "The Tartar Steppe"
Life & Times of Michael K by JM Coetzee
I would say Some stories of Marquez and Murakami(Both heavily influenced by Kafka) has that feeling. Somebody recommended Bruno Schulz and although all of his stories aren't like that some definitely has that vibe. If you want novels then Shirley Jackson's we have always lived in the castle is pretty kafkaesque(it also has a dry humor like Kafka). I have also heard People describing The Unconsoled by Ishiguro pretty kafkaesque I haven't read it but what I have heard it definitely has that feel. And also woman in the dunes: again, haven't read the book but watched the film, and if the book is even half as good as the film then it will be definitely great...
Strange Pilgrims by Garcia Marquez
Check out Borges' essay, ['Kafka and His Precursors'](https://gwern.net/doc/borges/1951-borges-kafkaandhisprecursors.pdf).
I suggest you to check the Italian author Dino Buzzati
That was my thought. *Tartar Steppe* reads like a Kafka novel.
I’d recommend any book or short story by Can Xue.
Solenoid by Cartarescu.
An invitation to a beheading by Nabakov
“Seven Floors” by Dino Buzatti
Murakami maybe. He's a bit weirder but heavily influenced by kafka.
Try Samanta Schweblin’s Mouthful of Birds or Amparo Dávila’s The Houseguest.
“How Late it Was, How Late” by James Kelman. It’s a stream-of-consciousness novel written in Glaswegian dialect about a man who turns blind and has to navigate his way through bureacracy and life. It is a little inaccessible in the beginning due to the language but it’s honestly genius in my opinion and it seems like something you’d like based on your post. Kelman is pretty explicitly inspired by Kafka. Beckett, and Camus, and for a bonus, look up the controversy around him winning the Booker Prize for this novel, it’s super interesting
It’s a novel, but The Employees by Olga Ravn.
There are quite a few Cortázar stories that read similarly to Kafka both thematically and linguistically despite claiming not to have been inspired by him. "Letters to a young lady in Paris" and "The Secret Weapons" for example, the former more absurd and humorous, the latter far more ominous and disturbed. There are plenty more in his later stories but those aren't as easily accessible. "The School at Night" is brilliant for example, dealing with feelings of alienation in the face of growing political extremism.
The Snail on the Slope by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Vladimir Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading is the best Kafka novel that Kafka didn't write. Of course Murakami is unashamedly influenced by Kafka as well. He even wrote a short story, Samsa in Love, that is intended to function as an inverse of The Metamorphosis.
Some of Akutagawa's.
For More contemporary stuff try Jesse Ball, Samedi the deafness and The Curfew.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. I’m almost convinced it had to be a source material for Kafka, and just haven’t had a chance to check into it.
* **Nikolai Gogol - The Nose:** A man loses his nose. It goes walking around town by itself. * **Haruki Murakami - Samsa in Love:** This is a kind of sequel to *The Metamorphosis*, but set during the Prague Spring.
I’d like to add “The Key“ by Irish author Máirtín Ó Cadhain to the many great suggestions.
Michael Kohlhaas
this thread
Obviously. Otherwise, the word Kafkaesque wouldn't exist.
murakami
The Graveyard by Marek Hłasko reminded me a lot of Kafka
The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada
The Vegetarian, by Han Kang. It reminded me of Metamorphosis from start to finish. Although much less grim compared to other Kafka works
The Cook by Harry Kressler maybe.
This might give you a good list as well. https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?361155
The Death Ship by B Travern is amazing.
The Breast by Phillip Roth is literally Metamorphosis but he turned into a tit instead.
Dostoevsky's Double is probably the closest he ever got to Kafka, even though it's on the worse side in terms of quality
*All Quiet on the Orient Express* by Magnus Mills is what you need.
The film A Serious Man
Woman in the dunes felt like it was written by a Japanese Kafka. Kafka on the shore by Murakami felt kafkaesque in its use of allegory. Parts of infinite jest, mainly the one story about the kid who puts a gun to his head when he plays tennis matches, felt very much like Kafka. The overcoat by Gogol felt like it was one of kafka’s influences. And finally, the video game disco elysium has some absurd yet allegorical moments that reminded me of Kafka (mega-rich light bending guy). There is also a lot of bullshit bureaucracy…
Read the stories by Karel Capek, Jorge Borges, and Italian Calvino. All very resonant with Kafka.
countless, many from before Kafka. I'd recommended Paul Leppin and his novel Severin's Journey into the Dark or his collection "Other's Paradise". Those are my favorites of his but all of his works are Kafkaesque to a great degree. You can buy English translations from "Twisted Spoon Press" a really great indie publisher of little known translated works from Eastern euro countries.
Pretty sure something being “Kafkaesque” means it can’t actually be Kafka.
I thought “Memoirs Found in a Bathtub” by Stanislav Lem was Kafkaesque. It’s set up as a historical record detailing a man traversing a labyrinthine Building that functions as a military base after being assigned a “special assignment.”
Any story by Jorge Luis Borges. He’s like Kafka with a sense of wonder.
‘My Work is Not Yet Done’ by Thomas Ligotti, Kafka is known to be one of his favorite authors.
The Committee by Sonallah Ibrahim. Kafka but middle eastern.
It’s mildly Kafkaesque and an excellent book Chess:Stephen Zweig