Details on why Kafka's work is existentialist...

Definition of Existentialism: Human beings cannot be understood through the sciences. Humans are in charge of making their own lives, they are forced to define their lives through living. Humans are entirely responsible for what they make of themselves. Existentialists believe that human existence is unexplainable, absurd, but they come to terms with this.

Talks about all of Kafka's literary works and life. "Kafka as Existentialist" is the heading that is important to us. --- "The existential attitude begins with a disoriented individual facing a confused world he cannot accept" (ix). However, the individual eventually accepts and even embraces the absurdity of life. --- --- Kafka does not theorize a utopian future for humanity. At best, Kafka has no philosophical or political motives and merely wants to reflect what he has seen of human nature. At worst, Kafka believes humanity is descending into an abyss of alienation in which individuals can rely on no external truths or communal obligations. The end result is an extreme version of alienation that is a forced, not chosen, individualism. ---

This source doesn't focus on Sartre's Existentialism, though it talks about it quite a bit - more in terms of the effect it had on popular culture than anything else. Here's a quote that sums up his importance: "It is mainly through the work of Jean-Paul Sartre that existentialism has come to the attention of a wide international audience." - Existentialism; Kaufmann, p. 40 He did not invent existentialism, but rather brought it to the public's interest. -- Man, as the only sentient being on earth, was forced to define who he was through living, while objects are what they are until destroyed. With our ability to think, grow, and change, mankind is in the unique position of defining itself. We are each in charge of defining our own lives. -- LOGICAL ATHEISM

This source isn't very good; it doesn't cover what we're looking for in terms of Nietzche as an Existentialist. However, there is this quote that is interesting and gives us insight to his philosophy in life: "Nevertheless, his father was a minister; a long line of clergymen lay behind each of his parents; and he himself remained a preacher to the end. He attacked Christianity because there was so much of its moral spirit in him.... With perhaps one disastrous exception, Nietzsche remained pious and Puritan, chaste as a statue, to the last: therefore his assault on Puritanism and piety. How he longed to be a sinner, this incorrigible saint! - The Story of Philosophy; Durant, p. 402-3"

This source is good to read if trying to comprehend the character of Kierkegaard. Don't read the entire thing (too much too know!) -- the Biography is good, but too long, and the section Commentaries:Christian Existentialism is what's really important to us... " Kierkegaard believed in a Creator, and in Christianity. However, he recognized that he was faithful by choice, not out of logic. The Existential aspect of this is the anguish caused by two aspects of Christianity: (1) You do not really meet the Creator until death yet suicide is not an option or everyone would try it. (2) Freedom is a punishment, not a reward, yet mankind relishes this freedom." "Existentialism is, in large part, the idea that life is a series of usually poor alternatives. Even a "good" decision has negative aspects."