“A Country Doctor” was written in 1916 and ultimately published in 1919 in a collection of Kafka’s stories also titled A Country Doctor. The short story is characteristic of the surreal elements Kafka infused in his work. Kafka’s favorite uncle, Siegfried Löwy, was a country doctor with whom Kafka reportedly spent summers in his childhood.

Franz Kafka wrote “A Country Doctor” during a period of great productivity for the author. At the time he wrote the story, Kafka had been working for nine years in a law firm and expressed a sense of disillusionment about his place in the profession. Like the doctor in the story, Kafka had lost faith in his profession and felt isolated from others. It was also during this time period that Kafka had broken his engagement to Felice Bauer and seemed resolved not to marry so he could devote himself to his writing—which is also similar to the bachelor doctor of the story and how he repressed desire for the sake of his career.

With the introduction of Darwinism in 1859 and the burgeoning turn from the church to science to make sense of the world, Kafka’s country doctor evokes the spirit of the time period. The doctor’s feelings of pressure from what he perceives as the community’s expectations for him mirror the sentiments of the early 20th century in which people turned from religious faith and put their trust in science and medicine.  Additionally, the fact that Kafka had so many struggles with his own health, including a terminal case of tuberculosis, may have served to inspire the story as well.