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Kafka’s notable style and thematic concerns led to the moniker Kafkaesque that lives on as a term to describe the writings of authors whose work features the grotesque complexity found in Kafka’s work. 

George Orwell, Animal Farm and 1984

Both George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949) are both considered Kafkaesque in their focus on oppressive political systems, depicted in ridiculous and satirical ways. Like “In the Penal Colony,” there are systems in place in both novels that seem solid but are actually fragile and dependent on public opinion and support.

Albert Camus, The Stranger

The Stranger (1942) by Albert Camus is the absurdist story of Meursault, a man who inexplicably murders a man and must then deal with the aftermath. It centers on themes of justice, religion, and the meaning of life in ways that echo Kafka’s style. The ludicrous judicial system depicted is reminiscent of the Officer’s adherence to the apparatus in “In the Penal Colony.”

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Toni Morrison’s masterwork, Beloved (1987), can be read through a Kafkaesque lens. Against the backdrop of the slavery era, a former slave, Sethe, is plagued by the ghost of her murdered baby. The brutal and completely illogical system of slavery is a horrifyingly real extension of the fictional system of “In the Penal Colony.”

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