Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) (German: Franz Kafka), sometimes referred to as Franz Kafka, was a Czech-Jewish writer who wrote in German, a pioneer of nightmare writing. He is considered one of the best German writers in the art of novels and short stories. His works are classified as fantastic realism. His stories usually include eccentric heroes who find themselves in the middle of a predicament in a surreal scene, due to the psychological themes he deals with in his works, such as social alienation, anxiety, panic, guilt, and absurdity. His most famous works are the novels The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has appeared in literature as a symbol of modernist writing filled with melancholy and absurdity.