Why is the adjective Kafkaesque used to describe bizarre bureaucratic situations?

The adjective Kafkaesque is used to describe situations that are nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical, particularly those involving bureaucratic systems.1

This term is derived from the works of Franz Kafka, a 20th-century writer whose fiction frequently depicted individuals trapped by nonsensical, blind, and oppressive authority. His novel The Trial is a primary inspiration for this usage; in the story, the protagonist, Joseph K., is arrested and subjected to a squalid, confusing legal process for a crime that is never defined.23

Kafka’s writing masterfully captured the anxiety and powerlessness of individuals facing systems where communication fails, logic is flouted, and the pursuit of justice or understanding is met with inaccessible, faceless bureaucracy. Because his prose so vividly detailed these settings where characters are crushed by irrational power, his name became synonymous with such experiences only 16 years after his death.23