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Other literature focused on other topics.  Author and attorney Franz Kafka penned several classic stories illustrating how humans are alienated from a hostile, unintelligible and indifferent modern world.  Several of his works became classics after Kafka died, including ''The Trial'' (1925) and ''The Castle'' (1926).  In ''The Trial'', an innocent man finds himself a defendant in a trial that he cannot understand, and he is sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit.  Kafka’s most famous short story was ''The Metamorphosis'' (1915), in which someone awakens to realize that he has been transformed into a massive cockroach that has been fatally injured.  Throughout Kafka’s works he expressed and sympathized with the feeling of being an outsider, of being someone who is not in the “in group.”  Kafka himself lacked religion and suffered from bouts of insanity as he grew older.

Other literature focused on other topics.  Author and attorney Franz Kafka penned several classic stories illustrating how humans are alienated from a hostile, unintelligible and indifferent modern world.  Several of his works became classics after Kafka died, including ''The Trial'' (1925) and ''The Castle'' (1926).  In ''The Trial'', an innocent man finds himself a defendant in a trial that he cannot understand, and he is sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit.  Kafka’s most famous short story was ''The Metamorphosis'' (1915), in which someone awakens to realize that he has been transformed into a massive cockroach that has been fatally injured.  Throughout Kafka’s works he expressed and sympathized with the feeling of being an outsider, of being someone who is not in the “in group.”  Kafka himself lacked religion and suffered from bouts of insanity as he grew older.

Philosophers increasingly abandoned religion.  Frenchman Jean Paul Sartre and the German Karl Jaspers advanced a new philosophy called “existentialism”, which taught that life has no meaning at all and that neither God nor morality exists.  Existentialism was a rebellion against all philosophy, seeking freedom for each person to form whatever value system he likes.  Rather than "I think therefore I am," an existentialist might absurdly say, "Maybe I exist, so therefore I think!"  An atheist, Sartre’s most famous work was ''L'âge de raison'' (''The Age of Reason'') (1945).  Towards the end of his life he shockingly expressed sympathy with the terrorists who kidnapped and killed Israelis during the 1972 Olympics, asserting that it was “perfectly scandalous” how the French press criticized the terrorism.   

Philosophers increasingly abandoned religion.  Frenchman Jean Paul Sartre and the German Karl Jaspers advanced a new philosophy called “existentialism”, which taught that life has no meaning at all and that neither God nor morality exists.  Existentialism was a rebellion against all philosophy, seeking freedom for each person to form whatever value system he likes.  Rather than "I think therefore I am," an existentialist might absurdly say, "Maybe I exist, so therefore I think!"  An atheist, Sartre’s most famous work was ''L'âge de raison'' (''The Age of Reason'') (1945).  Towards the end of his life he shockingly expressed sympathy for the terrorists who kidnapped and killed Israelis during the 1972 Olympics, asserting that it was “perfectly scandalous” how the French press criticized the terrorism.   

Prior work in the 1800s by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was the basis for the existentialism movement in the 1900s.  Nietzsche is famous for his statement that “God is dead.”  Nietzsche criticized Western democracy, preferring instead rule by elitist groups who could become almost superhuman through effort and courage.  Nietzsche himself went insane later in life, but many Germans promoted his ideas after World War I as Germans struggled to find self-esteem.

Prior work in the 1800s by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was the basis for the existentialism movement in the 1900s.  Nietzsche is famous for his statement that “God is dead.”  Nietzsche criticized Western democracy, preferring instead rule by elitist groups who could become almost superhuman through effort and courage.  Nietzsche himself went insane later in life, but many Germans promoted his ideas after World War I as Germans struggled to find self-esteem.