Franz Kafka is now known as one of the most prominent voices of the early twentieth century. His work is unique in its interest in surreal, absurd, and disorienting subject matter. His most famous text, The Metamorphosis, for example, follows salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to discover that he has transformed into a giant insect. Rather than a lighthearted or humorous take on the shocking revelation, The Metamorphosis takes Gregor's transformation quite seriously – his family, burdened by caring for him in this new state, falls to financial ruin and Gregor himself is eventually left to die. While the story is ambiguous about the type of creature Gregor becomes, popular interpretations of the text frequently depict him as a cockroach.
In "A Country Doctor," the central impetus behind the story is less absurd – the doctor simply must make it to a faraway town in the middle of a snowstorm without his horse. However, as the story unfolds, similar elements of surrealism begin to creep in. Unlike The Metamorphosis, "A Country Doctor" is slowly disorienting rather than immediately destabilizing. As such, it has often been interpreted as a dramatization of a dream-like state, when settings and surroundings appear familiar but are peppered with irrational circumstances.
These elements of Kafka's writing – the disorienting, surreal, and sometimes macabre interests – have given rise to the term "Kafkaesque" in English vernacular. Simply meaning "Kafka-like," this term is used to denote a situation that resembles that of Kafka's stories: situations marked by absurdity, confusion, and senselessness. More often than note, one uses the term "Kafkaesque" to describe bizarre circumstances that are beyond one's control. The popular use of this term has solidified Kafka's reputation in the Western literary canon as an experimental and innovative voice at the beginning of the twentieth century.
