My very favorite extremely short piece of Kafka's writing - just one magical sentence: http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka_the_wish_to_

My very favorite extremely short piece of Kafka's writing - just one magical sentence: http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka_the_wish_to_be_a_red_indian http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka... The other short anecdotal pieces linked in that page are also wonderful. Here's one: http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka_the_street_window http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka... And another, which (to me) is one of many counter-examples to the "Laughing With Kafka" notion: http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka_resolutions http://franzkafkastories.com/shortStories.php?story_id=kafka... That is, the final piece above is truly despairing in a way that DFW, perhaps, could identify with.