Who is Max Brod? What does he have to do with Kafka’s literary career?

Kafka's views of humanity found their origins in his idiosyncratic religious views, lying somewhere outside the mainstream of Judaism. Speaking with his friend Max Brod, Kafka once explained that he thought human beings were God's nihilistic thoughts. Brod asked whether there was hope elsewhere in the universe. To this, Kafka replied, "plenty of hope, for God? only not for us." This vision of human beings trapped in a hopeless world never leaves Kafka's writing, and it is present in The Metamorphosis, where Gregor's only option, in the end, is to die. Ironically, the story ends on an optimistic note, as the family puts itself back together. Yet after having written the story, Kafka criticized its imperfections, reserving his harshest remarks for the ending and insisting that it was "unreadable."

Kafka was mostly unpublished and unrecognized during his lifetime. Most of Kafka's works were published by his friend and literary executor Max Brod after Kafka's death from tuberculosis. Despite Kafka's request that Brod burn his letters, diaries, and unfinished manuscripts for novels including The Trial, Amerika, and The Man Who Disappeared, Brod compiled, edited, and published most of Kafka's writing in his possession. Kafka's posthumous publications led to widespread popularity and established his prominence as one of the most influential figures of twentieth-century literature.