Here's the hitch, though: Any time a famous writer's distinct literary traits and characteristics -- things that make their works clearly distinguishable from many other authors -- becomes its own basis as an adjective to describe those traits (ex. Emily Dickenson: "Dickensian", George Orwell: "Orwellian"), the meaning of that adjective depends completely on individual interpretations of the original work.
No matter what the dictionaries state about the definition of "Kafkaesque", the true meaning has nothing to do with these "official" dictionary definitions and more about what critics' opinions are on Kafka himself.
People have many different views on what defines Kafkaesque for them. I personally interpret it as surreal, abnormal, and somewhat frightening. These are very clear themes from the very beginning of 'The Metamorphosis". Beginning with its first sentence, the story deals with wildly absurd circumstances; our protagonist wakes up one morning having turned into a monstrous insect. This first sentence in the book already tells us that the story operates in some otherworldly, random chaotic universe. Not only is the main character's random, spontaneous transformation a weird circumstance, it is way beyond the boundaries of natural phenomena and therefore physically impossible. From the start, Gregor's metamorphosis takes on supernatural significance.
Something else I found bizarre, or perfectly fitting with my personal opinion of what makes something Kafkaesque, was the prevalent idea throughout the book of Disconnect between Mind and Body. Yes, Gregor Samsa now physically resembles a giant insect, but inside, he's still the old gregor. Despite the drastic and shocking transformation, his mind is still left the same, which causes a total lack of harmony in his day-to-day functions. For instance, there was that part in the beginning of the book where he was so used to sleeping on his side but couldn't turn over because his new insect body wouldn't allow him to move as freely as he used to. He also tried to turn a doorknob but could not because he could no longer physically function like he used to.
This confusing disconnect between his mind and body was clearly uncontrollable for Gregor, and we could see his desperation to function and live as the normal person he was before , but not being able to. His vivid distress is off-putting and very scary for the reader; definitely what I would call Kafkaesque.
