Franz Kafka

About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883–1924), a German-language writer from Prague, is a foundational figure in 20th-century literature, profoundly influencing existentialism, modernism, and absurdist theatre. His most notable works, including The Metamorphosis and the unfinished novels The Trial and The Castle, explore themes of alienation, bureaucracy, guilt, and the individual's struggle against inscrutable systems. MIT's Pantheon project recognizes this immense cultural weight by ranking him #123 in overall historical importance, solidifying his status as a critical intellectual touchstone.

Despite this high historical ranking, Kafka's 2025 Wikipedia attention is modest compared to his importance. He garnered 2.0 million annualized views, which places him in a category of overattention relative to historical importance, quantified by an Attention Gap score of +4x, suggesting his intellectual influence translates more strongly into cultural presence than simple search traffic might imply. For context, this view count is significantly lower than that of modern figures like Elvis Presley (#224 importance, 6.2M views) or Robert De Niro (#562 importance, 5.6M views), indicating a gap where historical literary weight does not fully map onto contemporary internet engagement.

Interestingly, while Kafka’s overall interest is high relative to his rank, his year-over-year change shows a decline of -26.1%, though his recent momentum from Q1 to Q3 2025 was positive at +11%, suggesting volatility in his current online relevance.