The Trial (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Franz Kafka
- First Published: 1925
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: Justice, Prisoners, Murder or homicide, Twentieth century, Surrealism, Alienation, Trials, Law or legislation, Symbolism, Germany or German people, Paranoia, Courts or courtrooms
- Locales: Germany
On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, the bachelor Josef K., a career-oriented bank employee, wakes up to the unsettling news that he is under arrest. Uninformed as to the crime he is alleged to have committed, K. receives a summons to appear before a judge a few days later. Yet neither this nor a subsequent visit to the curiously irregular court provides him with any clarity about his case.
Left stranded in his efforts to communicate with the legal authorities, K. finds his daily life invaded by grotesque reminders of guilt and punishment. Soon a debilitating sense of doom...
[The entire page is 578 words long]
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