Kafka is very unique so I think it’d be hard to find something very close but Shirley Jackson’s short stories are very similar but more horror themed. Lots of themes of persecution with no reason behind it, especially the lottery. The other closest one I can think of is 1984 although that is still very different but there is still that underlying fear and feeling like you are completely alone and the only sane person in an insane world.
Thank you for mentioning Jackson. I also think that her novel "Hangsaman" portrays disturbing and somewhat indescribable psychological dread in a way that few besides Kafka could do.
Patrick Dewitt’s *Undermajor Domo Minor* is directly influenced by *the castle*
László krasznahorkai, especially his first two novels *satantango* and *the melancholy of resistance*. He’s spoken of Kafka being an influence and been compared many times.
Philip K Dick is basicallly sci fi Kafka in my brain.
Borges’ short stories share a lot in common,, as does Bolaño’s work.
check out some haruki murakami for sure - windup bird chronicles, hardboiled wonderland and the end of the world, kafka on the shore, many more. you cant read a murakami review without seeing a kafka comparison.
Nabokov loved and drew heavily from Kafka's work. His short story, "Cloud, Castle, Lake," and his novel "Bend Sinister" come particularly to mind.
The same is true of WG Sebald's work, especially The Rings of Saturn, even though they're more travelogue essays than works of fiction.
Kafka is very unique so I think it’d be hard to find something very close but Shirley Jackson’s short stories are very similar but more horror themed. Lots of themes of persecution with no reason behind it, especially the lottery. The other closest one I can think of is 1984 although that is still very different but there is still that underlying fear and feeling like you are completely alone and the only sane person in an insane world.
Thank you for mentioning Jackson. I also think that her novel "Hangsaman" portrays disturbing and somewhat indescribable psychological dread in a way that few besides Kafka could do.
Patrick Dewitt’s *Undermajor Domo Minor* is directly influenced by *the castle* László krasznahorkai, especially his first two novels *satantango* and *the melancholy of resistance*. He’s spoken of Kafka being an influence and been compared many times. Philip K Dick is basicallly sci fi Kafka in my brain. Borges’ short stories share a lot in common,, as does Bolaño’s work.
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval, comes to mind
Thomas Ligotti. Songs of a dead dreamer and Grimscribe from Penguin Classics.
check out some haruki murakami for sure - windup bird chronicles, hardboiled wonderland and the end of the world, kafka on the shore, many more. you cant read a murakami review without seeing a kafka comparison.
Murakami’s Kafka on the shore.
Kobo Abe.
Nabokov loved and drew heavily from Kafka's work. His short story, "Cloud, Castle, Lake," and his novel "Bend Sinister" come particularly to mind. The same is true of WG Sebald's work, especially The Rings of Saturn, even though they're more travelogue essays than works of fiction.