Born in a Jewish ghetto in Prague, Franz Kafka (1883–1924) allegedly burned up to 90 percent of his own work during his lifetime. Luckily, a few important pieces survived—enough to shape his legacy as one of the most influential 20th-century writers, whose depictions of bizarre and sinister events in a society under bureaucratic control coined the term ‘Kafkaesque’. Written in 1920, “The Refusal” depicts a ritual ceremony in a small town controlled by a government in a faraway capital. In times of need, residents of the town appeal to the tax-collector, the town’s highest ranking government official, for help. The text’s themes of oppression and authoritarianism would have resonated strongly with a readership that had just endured World War I and was on the brink of another global conflict.
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