Text: Kafka. Collection Florida Holocaust Museum. I first used Kafka's words in The Building of the Temple, both in response to a challenge from writer Harvey Blume, a colleague in loving Kafka, and as a means for addressing the cultural richness of pre-Holocaust European Jewish society. Additionally, Kafka's stories are some of the most powerful I know for describing life's absurdity and the downsides of modernity. They continue to be generators of images and vehicles for ideas in my work.