Travis MaynardDr. Wilder, Dr. KrusiewiczMid 120 (Paper Assignment One)February 17, 2014Nothing is more real than nothingThe literary works of Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka created environments in which the characters are set in ludicrous and dark realities. The characters find themselves in absurd situations without any explanation for the events that are happening or are going to happen. The question arises: why did these authors place the characters in these destroyed worlds with no hope of resolution? I argue that the authors' history and the environments they lived in have a direct correlation to the authors' dark characters and writing styles. To connect the characters and environments of the stories to the authors' lives, one must first take a look at the authors' history as well as that of the characters. Examining the lives of Beckett and Kafka at the time these stories were written can help determine the mindsets and styles of both authors and how they relate their own real-life issues to the fictional contexts of their characters. Theme I - The worlds of authors Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883 into a Jewish family. Her father, Hermann, was a business owner and her mother, Julie, was a housewife. Tragedy struck early in Franz's life when his siblings died when he was 6 years old. Hermann exhibited a dictatorial lifestyle during Franz's childhood which left him very isolated. At that time in Europe, anti-Semitism and intolerance against Jews was considerable. Not only were the Kafka family intolerated because they were Jewish, but they were also a German-speaking family in the Czech Republic. Kafka was in a completely isolated world, not only from his family, but among papers and plays. His play Waiting for Godot was written in 1948 and completed in 1949. The show opened in a Paris theater in 1953 and has been performed several times since. Many of Beckett's works are set in a country at war and have dark influences and storylines. Beckett's writing style is heavily influenced by the effects of the war on his own life. In Waiting for Godot, they find themselves in a barren desert, desperately waiting for something, much like a soldier at war, waiting to strike his enemies. Although not all of his writings were about war, Beckett was very secretive throughout his life. He did not like leaving his estate towards the end of his life and he also married in secret. He loved isolation and getting away from reality. This may also have had an influence on his writing style, leaving his characters alone in a vast and overwhelming world..