. 1883 -- Born in Prague, July 3, son of Hermann and Julie.
1899 - 1900 -- Reads Spinoza, Darwin, Nietzsche.
1899 - 1903 -- Early writings (destroyed).
1901 - 1906 -- Study of German literature, then law at German University, Prague.
1904 - 1905 -- "Description of a Struggle" written.
1906 -- Works in the law office of Richard Lowy, Prague. Gets degree of doctor
juris at German University, Prague.
1907 - 1908 -- "Wedding Preparations in the Country" written.
1908 -- Position at the semi-governmental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute
(until retirement, July 1922). Close friendship with Max Brod.
1909 -- Publication of eight prose pieces in Hyperion.
1910 -- Publication of five prose pieces in Bohemia, beginning of the Diaries.
1911 - 1912 -- Contact with Yiddish theater company and friendship with Yiddish
actor Isak Lowy; study of Jewish folklore.
1911 - 1914 -- Working on Amerika (main parts written 1911-12).
1912 -- First studies of Judaism; meets Felice Bauer from Berlin; manuscript of Meditation
sent to the publisher; beginning of correspondence with Felice Bauer; "The
Judgment" written; "The Stoker" (later became first chapter of Amerika)
written; "The Metamorphosis" written.
1913 -- Publication of Meditation; publication of "The Stoker";
publication of The Judgment.
1914 -- "Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad" written; "In the Penal
Colony" written; begins writing The Trial.
1915 -- Renewed meeting with Felice Bauer; continues working on The Trial;
receives Fontane Prize for "The Stoker"; publication of The Metamorphosis;
"The Village Schoolmaster" written.
1916 -- Meeting with Felice Bauer in Marienbad; draws up a list of reasons for and
against marriage; stories written, later collected in A Country Doctor.
1917 -- "The Hunter Gracchus" written; learning Hebrew; "The Great
Wall of China" written; second engagement to Felice Bauer; begins coughing blood;
diagnosis of tuberculosis; leave of absence from office; breaking of second engagement to
Felice Bauer; aphorisms written (octavo notebooks).
1918 -- Aphorisms continued.
1919 -- Diary entries are resumed; engagement to Julie Wohryzek (broken November
1919); publication of In the Penal Colony; publication of A Country Doctor;
"Letter to His Father" written; "He," collection of aphorisms,
written.
1920 -- Sick leave from Worker's Accident Insurance; meets Gustav Janouch; meets
Milena Jesenska'-Pollak, Czech writer (correspondence); writing stories.
1921 -- Tatra Mountains sanatorium; then Prague; Milena.
1921 - 1924 -- Stories written, collected in A Hunger Artist.
1922 -- The Castle written; "A Hunger Artist" written; last
meeting with Milena; "Investigations of a Dog" written.
1923 -- With Dora Dyamant in Berlin-Steglitz; "The Burrow" written; A
Hunger Artist sent to publisher.
1924 -- "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" written; brought as a
patient from Berlin to Prague; to Wiener Wald Sanatorium; death in Kierling; burial June
11,in the Jewish cemetery
in Prague-Straschnitz; publication of A Hunger Artist.
1942 -- Death of K.'s sister Ottla in Auschwitz. The other two sisters also
perished in German concentration camps.
1944 -- Death of Grete Bloch at the hands of a Nazi soldier. Death of Milena in a
German concentration camp.
1952 -- Death of Dora Dyamant in London.
1960 -- Death of Felice Bauer.
Taken from Kafka: The Complete Stories, Schocken Books, 1971, New York.
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Last modified December 10, 2003.