The Trial (Arcturus Silhouette Classics) (Franz Kafka) (Schocken classics)

by Franz Kafka

John Williams (Introduction) and Tom Griffith

When people use the adjective 'Kafkaesque', it is The Trial they have in mind - the nightmarish world of Joseph K., where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and any help there may be comes from unexpected sources.

K. is never told what he is on trial for, and when he says he is innocent, he is immediately asked 'innocent of what?' Is he perhaps on trial for his innocence? Could he have freed himself from the proceedings by confessing his guilt as a human being? Has the trial been set up because he is incapable of admitting his guilt, and hence his humanity?

The Trial is a chilling and at the same time blackly amusing tale that maintains, to the very end, a constant, relentless atmosphere of disorientation and quirkiness. Superficially the subject-matter is bureaucracy, but the story's great strength is its description of the effect on the life and mind of Josef K. It is in the last resort a description of the absurdity of 'normal' human nature.

• ISBN10: 184022097X
• ISBN13: 9781840220971
• Publish Date: 5 October 2008 (first published 3 December 1915)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 May 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I decided to read The Trial was because I saw that next week’s lecture made reference to this book as well as Orwell’s 1984. These books weren’t required reading but I’ve read 1984 and I thought it would be a good excuse to read The Trial, because I’m pretentious like that. I really enjoyed Kafka’s The Metamorphosis so I was excited to have an excuse to read his famous unfinished novel. The Trial tells the story of Josef; a chief financial officer for a bank finds himself being arrested and prosecuted by the authorities. The twist in the book is that the nature of his crime is never revealed to the accused or the reader.

Kafka appears to like to write philosophical novels; in The Metamorphosis he explored the idea of human identity and social acceptance. With The Trial I get the feeling maybe this is a look religion and the idea that life is just a big trial. Or maybe this is just an existential novel. In any case there are a lot of different aspects this book offers for exploration and these books were you can pull out different interpretations are often books I tend to love.

This is a quick read and now that I’ve read my second Kafka novel, I now understand his appeal. I’m not sure what to read next but I can’t wait to explore some more of his works. Like many classics the descriptive prose’s takes you away and you just find yourself being immersed in the story. This helps with a book that really requires your full focus.

Overall I’m satisfied with the ending of this unfinished novel, the last chapter does feel like it brings the story to an end but I can’t help but wonder where Kafka would of gone next. There was a bit of inconsistency throughout this book, with the timing and narrative but this never seemed to be a problem, it just added to the dark and gloominess of this novel. If you’ve not read Kafka, I highly recommend you give him a go, there is such a joy in reading a novel like this.

[clq]

The Trial really has the feel of the kind of nightmare you'd have if you were to eat a very large meal and then fall asleep while reading about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the midst of revising for a law exam… But it's like a nightmare in a good way… I think.

Considering how much I thought I knew about the general gist of this book, and how much it is referenced all over the place, I was surprised at how surprising I found it. I'd expected it to be much more of a parody, making fun of "the system", bureaucracy, and common-sense defying rules in a comic, absurdist way. Instead it turned out to be rather dark satire. It is funny at times, but only through absurdity. It is lighthearted at times, but never in a way which inspires any confidence at all in the lightheartedness being justified. Instead the occasional good mood and optimism in the main character becomes frustrating when contrasted with the hopelessness we sense that he should be feeling.

And the hopelessness, while overwhelming, isn't even obvious - it's gradually revealed in a really brilliant way. Not through events of explicit hopelessness, but through events that just fail to deliver any real hope. Ever. It's eerily unsettling.

This is a book that everyone should read. There is no excuse not to. It's short, it's a classic, and it's really well done. I'm not sure I can claim to have enjoyed it, but enjoyment is obviously not what this book is going for. It's a fantastic and really vivid portrayal of hopelessness and helplessness with an underlying theme of what happens when you're caught up in a system with no care for or awareness of anything but preserving itself. And if you haven't read this book, but feel that you pretty much know what it's like, you might well be in for a surprise. I know I was.

[celinenyx]

As a Cultural Sciences student it is expected of me to read endless piles of classic works, and Kafka was one of them. Because a friend of mine loved his books, I decided to give Kafka a try. I should have known that this book was to be weird, as my friend has very weird taste.

K. is suddenly arrested one morning. He isn't taken to jail - it is expected of him to just keep on working at the bank where he holds a senior position. The trial continues within the nooks and crevices of the town, in a unexplainable manner that isn't even clear to those on the inside.

The Trial shows a very clear view of how confusing and opaque the law is. The law is viewed as a seperate being, something that isn't influenced by people at all. Even the highest advocates and judges can't always affect a case. It is oppressive, and the moment K. gets arrested he loses part of his freedom. He can do as he pleases - but the thought of his trial brings him down. He can barely hold on to his job at the bank and every waking moment is committed to his trial.

I had a hard time liking K. He is annoying, elitist, and doesn't hold women in that high regard while not minding using them for their bodily charms (it's not like the women are protesting though). I found his decisions quite illogical at best, but they do fit the overall style of the book. There aren't really any other well-drawn characters apart from K., all the others play minor rolls as advisers to K. and nothing else.

To me The Trial reads like one big nightmare. If I were to give an interpretation I would say that K. is paranoid, and that he isn't on trial at all. At several moments throughout the story you get the sense that things aren't at all what they seem, and the surreal setting and events seem so disconnected from reality that it feels like they can't be true, not even in a fictional setting. The way characters appear and disappear, the weird coincidences and spatial irregularities, they all add to my suspicion that the story of K. might not be that straightforward as it is told.

A quick read, but not something I necessarily enjoy. My complete apathy towards anything concerning with law might stand in the way of my appreciating The Trial, but I do recognise that it's quite a special novel.