Franz Kafka’s 'The Metamorphosis' (1915) begins with one of the most famous lines in literature: 'As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.' Kafka’s writing is so unique—combining the mundane details of bureaucracy with nightmare-like, surreal situations—that it gave rise to the term 'Kafkaesque.' Interestingly, Kafka was a perfectionist who requested that his friend Max Brod burn all his unpublished manuscripts after his death. Brod famously disobeyed, allowing works like 'The Trial' and 'The Castle' to survive. Without Brod's betrayal, one of the most influential voices of the 20th century would have remained largely unknown.