dc.description.abstract | Franz Kafka spent his life writing, using it as a productive outlet to express sentiments on his personal life as well as notions on the functioning government, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Born in 1883, Kafka lived in the midst of the regime's power. It was not until during his pursued careers as a banker and law student that Kafka gained knowledge, and thus opinions, on bureaucracy and law. However, it was not until his work was published after his death by a close friend, Max Brod, that the world learned about his insights on the problematic nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His writing, once being a disclosed hobby, became a publicly studied work possessing varying literary techniques, such as absurdism. Identified through close reading and an understanding of the philosophy of law, it becomes clear that Kafka's work critiques positive law, a legal system focused on solely the implementation of the law and favors natural law, a system where morality and law work in tandem. | |