Franz Kafka was a healthcare claims administrator and insurance underwriter

This explains a lot; I’ve been thinking for years (ever since being diagnosed with a chronic health condition) about writing an essay likening the American insurance system to Kafka’s _The Trial_. The bureaucracy is absolutely soul-crushing, and has left me in tears on multiple occasions. While nearly no individual person you deal with is at fault or malicious, the whole experience ends up being something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I somewhat dislike the line of Kafka commentary that focuses on <i>The Trial</i> and <i>The Castle</i> and then associates their bureaucratic themes with his own life experience working various office jobs.<p>One, because his writing is about much more than this theme (in which <i>kafkesque</i> is too frequently confused&#x2F;mixed with <i>Orwellian</i>) but more because it pushes away his short stories and aphorisms, which I think are much, much better than his longer works – and more mystical and mysterious in nature. I&#x27;d take <i>A Hunger Artist</i>, <i>In the Penal Colony</i>, or some of the aphorisms from the Zürau book over his more famous works any day.<p>It&#x27;s unfortunate that writers tend to be known for a single &quot;brand&quot; which causes off-brand works to be pushed to the side.<p>This is all a long way of saying that if you associate Kafka entirely with insurance administrators and oppressive bureaucracies and don&#x27;t find this compelling, check out his shorter works.

This was worth the click<p><pre><code> A man from the country seeks the law and wishes to gain entry to it through an open doorway, but the doorkeeper tells the man that he cannot go through at the present time. The man asks if he can ever go through, and the doorkeeper says it is possible &quot;but not now&quot;. The man waits by the door for years, bribing the doorkeeper with everything he has. The doorkeeper accepts the bribes, but tells the man he only accepts them &quot;so that you do not think you have left anything undone&quot;. The man does not attempt to murder or hurt the doorkeeper to gain entry to the law, but waits at the doorway until he is about to die. Right before his death, he asks the doorkeeper why, even though everyone seeks the law, no one else has come in all the years he has been there. The doorkeeper answers, &quot;No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it&quot;</code></pre>

My English teachers always taught Kafka largely on the depressing negativity of his writing. Yet he’d hold salons to read his work to friends, and they’d all roar with laughter (Kafka too). Absurdism can also be cathartic humor.

Wallace Stevens, perhaps America&#x27;s greatest poet, also had a successful career working in insurance for decades. [1] is a nice short biography. It sounds like he was a committed &amp; involved writer already before that though, and even he took some years off when he started the job and again after his daughter was born. So wherever you are, don&#x27;t lose hope, but persist.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.poetryfoundation.org&#x2F;poets&#x2F;wallace-stevens" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.poetryfoundation.org&#x2F;poets&#x2F;wallace-stevens</a>

I didn&#x27;t know this Vienna website. I scrolled through the author&#x27;s profile, and it seems very cool - here&#x27;s another blog from him about nurses - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vienna.earth&#x2F;plate&#x2F;russell&#x2F;nurse-shaddowing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vienna.earth&#x2F;plate&#x2F;russell&#x2F;nurse-shaddowing</a>

I was fully expecting this to be an article showing how Kafka-esque the American health insurance system is.

Metamorphosis was always particularly upsetting to read. Someone loses their ability to produce economic value and is portrayed as a literal insect<p>It reminds me of a cousin of mine who was struggling through some drugs and mental issues, hearing immediate family make a bunch of shitty remarks about him<p>Kafka is one of those authors that I try not to read because I&#x27;d prefer to have a rosier picture of human nature

Not even Kafka got to write full time. Even the famous artists had to work a job and yet we still see posts every day about how greedy the art industries are

He was a work comp claim administrator - in the US, they are some of the worst people on the planet.<p>This was before doctors became incurably greedy - so a bit early for first party health insurance.