Franz Kafka was born on July 3,1883, the first child of Hermann and Julie (née Lowy) Kafka. In 1911 he made a trip to Paris, Italy, and Switzerland with Brod. He also became very interested in Yiddish theater (think a more melodramatic, more ethnic, shlockier, unintentionally funny sitcom or soap opera), even going so far as to give a talk on Yiddish in 1912 and becoming close friends with Isaac Lôwy, a Yiddish theater actor. Kafka was gathering information for his "American novel," which he beg ...