Kafkaesque

adjective

Kaf·​ka·​esque ˌkäf-kə-ˈesk  ˌkaf- 

: of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings

especially : having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality

Kafkaesque bureaucratic delays

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Kafkaesque Literature

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-language writer whose surreal fiction vividly expressed the anxiety, alienation, and powerlessness of the individual in the 20th century. The opening sentence of his 1915 story The Metamorphosis has become one of the most famous in Western literature (“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect”), while in his novel The Trial, published a year after his death, a young man finds himself caught up in the mindless bureaucracy of the law after being charged with a crime that is never named. So deft was Kafka’s prose at detailing nightmarish settings in which characters are crushed by nonsensical, blind authority, that writers began using his name as an adjective a mere 16 years after his death. Although many other literary eponyms, from Austenian to Homeric, exist and are common enough, Kafkaesque gets employed more than most and in a wide variety of contexts, leading to occasional charges that the word has been watered down and given a lack of specificity due to overuse.

Examples of Kafkaesque in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even at their most whimsical, in some ways, the film’s magical realist touches aren’t far off from the reality of the US immigration system, where Kafkaesque absurdities abound. —Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024

This Kafkaesque situation risks other countries not wishing to remove flammable cladding, says Rein. —Alex Christian, WIRED, 1 Mar. 2024

Since then, she has been locked in a Kafkaesque struggle with Russian authorities over his body. —Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2024

Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, owner of the independent newspaper Apple Daily and pro-democracy and human rights defender, has been detained and subjected to multiple Kafkaesque trials for fighting for freedom of speech and democracy in Hong Kong. —Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2024

But Khalid’s plea became lost in a Kafkaesque maze, listed 10 times before different judges. —Vaibhav Vats, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2024

And Nagayama’s nervy portrayal, like a cosmic baton of Kafkaesque anguish handed off to him, keeps us just as riveted to a possible injustice. —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023

The sheer volume of open warrants creates a Kafkaesque web of suspicion over people who share common names, regardless of jurisdiction or availability of complete information. —WIRED, 14 Sep. 2023

Each says a tick bite — about seven years ago for Georgina, the mom, and 15 for Madison — thrust them into the Kafkaesque world of chronic Lyme disease. —Kay Lazar, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Aug. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined above

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