Kafka and Wallace Stevens: Insurance Agents by Day, Influential Literary Figures by Night

In our discussions of Kafka's biography, his professional life reminded me of another influential writer of the 20th century, Wallace Stevens. To recap, Kafka was sort of forced by his father into a legal education despite his love for writing, and he got a job at an insurance company, which he held for much of his life. Writing was not his main occupation, and little of his work was published during his lifetime. This sort of double life of having a mundane job while also producing a considerable literary output reminded me of American poet Wallace Stevens, who coincidentally also worked as an insurance agent and executive for most of his life. Stevens, sort of similarly to Kafka, was the son of a prosperous lawyer who likely encouraged him to go to law school, and he became a successful insurance executive for much of his life. While holding this job, however, he also wrote what is often regarded as some of the best American modernist poetry. We've read some of his famous works in previous english classes, with the best known one probably being "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Blackbird." Stevens' poetry is often intellectually complex and philosophical, so much like Kafka, it might seem surprising that he held a mundane job as an insurance worker.

Just as interesting as these similarities, though, are the significant differences between these two writers. While many broad aspects of their lives seem very similar (i.e. both born around 1880, both insurance agents but also writers), the details of their literary and personal lives differ in many important ways. Perhaps most notably, Stevens was a celebrated poet during his own lifetime, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. He was held in high regard by critics and fellow poets alike, who recognized him as a leading figure in modernist poetry. As a result, Stevens was offered a position as a professor at Harvard (though relatively late in his career after his 1955 Pulitzer Prize), but declined in favor of keeping his job at the insurance company. From what we have read in The Metamorphosis and the apparent satisfaction felt by Kafka by such a mundane job, I don't think Kafka would have turned down this opportunity to devote himself to literature. Also of note, Stevens produced much of his most famous work at a relatively older age for a poet, with important works being written as late as the 1950s. This is in contrast to Kafka, who died at an unfortunately young age in 1924 and thus could not write into old age. Another contrast I found between the two writers is that Kafka was apparently involved in socialist political movements at the time, while Stevens was pretty politically conservative. I think these comparisons are interesting as these to literary figures had strikingly parallel lives as insurance agent writers, but differed significantly in how they handled their mundane day job. Overall, Kafka certainly seems more discontent and restless, while Stevens was evidently more content with his literary double life.