Franz Kafka
When saying that you were influenced by a deceased writer, one may expect you mean having taken a liking to his works and actually having been influenced by the works of the writer in question. Let me begin by stating that this is not the case.
Kafka is in my opinion the person which has had the greatest influence on me; without knowing it, and without ever believing it were possible; for, before his death, he left word to his best friend, Max Brod, to burn all his unpublished works. Sure, Kafka's collection of published parables also makes an impression, and those parables are indeed a lot more polished compared to the rest of his works; however, it was that which Kafka intended to be burnt that reflects his inner turmoil, and which reached out to me over the years.
I do not consider myself a pessimist or nihilist, so my liking of Kafka may seem unlikely. But it is the very action of following and understanding his thoughts which contributed to me being neither of both. At a very young age I read “The Trial”, which to this day remains my favorite book; and from the moment I laid it down, I knew I was thirsty for more. The sheer feeling of adversity, inherent in all of his works, but especially in those he did not want published inspired me to overcome any condition with the slightest resemblance to that of his protagonists, and as I was to find out later on, to that of Kafka himself. My liking of the atmosphere of Kafka's works led me to travel to Prague and beyond, to follow his footsteps, but also, to read every single sentence written by Kafka which survived the decades and was accessible to me. And every single part of my research paid off, even skimming through the long pointless passages of Kafka's correspondence, gave me a solid idea of what one has to overcome.