Albert Camus, in his essay Hope and Absurd in the work of Franz Kafka, says that a reader is forced

to read and re-read Kafkas works. The puzzling nature of his themes, the peculiar use of language, and the complex combination of the real and the fantastic is awe-inspiring, yet often leaves the reader perplexed. For instance, in The Metamorphosis, protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself turned into a vermin. He tries to convince himself to feel normal, but his incomprehensible condition as an insect proves otherwise. All events and incidents seem improbable yet the casual acceptance of Gregors transformation by the characters creates a sense of mystery. This strange and mysterious force can be understood as the existential concept of the Absurd. This notion of the Absurd is not peculiar only to The Metamorphosis, but a convention that is employed in many of Kafkas works. Kafka exemplifies the "absurdity" of life by the devices of narration, a complex representation of the character, and by employing surrealistic language and images in his novels and short stories. The reification of human relationships in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century due to social and historical upheavals resulted in the general feeling of rootlessness and alienation among people. The fragmentation of society and life evoked a sense of inner anguish and anxiety. This culminated in the themes of loss, loneliness, and meaninglessness of life. These themes provoked a variety of discourses on existentialism questioning the meaning and existence of man in a disordered and an impersonal world. The despair is depicted in all levels of relationships family, society, and the world. Kafka belonged to this modern period of alienation and disorientation. His protagonists are, therefore, portrayed as estranged victims leading an Absurd life in a familiar yet a strange world. According to Albert Camus, Absurdity emerges from anxiety and this initiates our break with everyday and routine activities. What was once normal is now seen as the very cause of anxiety. The reasonable now seems irrational and the familiar begins to appear strange. Absurdity is further heightened because our reason keeps assuring us of the "normality and the reasonableness" of the situation. The protagonist is not responsible and has no permanent remedy for this "isolation". Thus, we see a gap between thought and reality, man and the world. This incomprehensible nature of the gap is denoted as Absurdity, a concept that is often reflected in Kafkas narratives. Wedding Preparations in the Country is one of Kafkas early stories, which prepares us for a lucid reading of The Metamorphosis. As a narrative, it depicts the mundane and the mechanical life of Raban. He views his isolated life as a dreadful and a meaningless existence in an impersonal world. Raban observes the dense materiality and the hostility of the world. These observations culminate in his desire to transform into an insect and escape from all the "people who torment" him. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, like Raban, is also trapped in an absurd situation of alienation and non-existence. Kafkas use of omniscient narration and existential theme exemplified in Rabans solitariness, his desire to become an insect, the wearisome job of commercial travelers, matures in its complexity in the Metamorphosis. The "actual" animal form of existence enhances the absurdity of Gregor Samsas life. The once normal and familiar world begins to appear as a strange and a non-human world. The loss of contact with humans is indicated in Gregors shocking transformation, and this widens the gap between illusion and reality. Kafka vacillates his hero between the two spheres of human and non-human. Language is one of the key concerns of Absurdist philosophers. Kafka uses the powerful dramatic technique of placing the ordinary, mundane conversations in bizarre situations,

and this in turn creates a surrealist experience through language. This is most conspicuous in The Metamorphosis and his short story - The Country Doctor. The short story begins with a luxurious set of semi-colons symbolizing the fragmentation of the world I was in great perplexity; I had to start an urgent journey; a seriously ill patient was waiting for me in a village ten miles off; a thick blizzard of snow filled all the wide spaces between me and him; but there was no horse to be had, no horse (220) Thus, reading Franz Kafkas works is reading the theme of the Absurd in all its complexity. It is a world of contradictions in which the rational and the irrational, the strange and the familiar, existence and non-existence, reality and illusion co-exist. I would like to conclude with an interesting quote, All is imaginary--family, office, friends, the street, all imaginary, far away or close at hand, the woman; the truth that lies closest, however, is only this, that you are beating your head against the wall of a windowless and doorless cell.