"Homecoming" (German: "Heimkehr") is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

. A young man returns home and finds that his father does not express any feelings towards him. He recognizes the familiar terrain, such as his family's farm, but feels like a stranger. He stands at the door waiting, and feels a dread as it becomes apparent that he will always be on the outskirts both of his family and of his community. It has been suggested that the story is essentially the Parable of the Prodigal Son inverted.

References

{{The Prodigal Son Short stories by Franz Kafka