Never say you know it all - hubris loves it.

However, I do know a lot about Kafka and new information always takes me by surprise. Within the last few days I found out that Kafka has been credited with devising the first 'safety helmet' or hard hat. He was also awarded a medal for this feat. Now, I knew Kafka had been awarded a medal by the Austro-Hungarian Empire for some services rendered. The beauty of this (something even Kafka appreciated) was that it never happened. By the time the bureaucracy  of the Empire had chewed its way through the procedure, the Empire no longer existed. Empire and Emperor were both gone as a result of the First World War. The Empire had disappeared before Kafka ever got his medal.

For a writer seemingly outside the 'real' world, Kafka was acutely aware of it and how it functioned. Although he personally loathed using the new invention of the 'telephone', he was also the first person to describe for popular consumption, through a newspaper article, the flight of that newfangled device, the aeroplane. He attended an air show in Italy where there were stunts and races. He found it (though he did not use the term) a hoot.