Franz Kafka (Prague , 1883- 1924 ) was the son of Hermann Kafka and Julie Löwy . In 1901 he began studying law at the German University in Prague . He earned his doctorate in law in 1906. In 1917, ill with tuberculosis, which led to his death. Max Brod , his friend and confidant, was responsible for the publication of several of his novels . Disobeying the last will of Kafka , who had ordered the burning of all his unpublished works were published: America, The Trial, The Castle , newspapers , initiated in 1908 and the Letters to Milena , among others.