The Trial (Vintage Classics)

Kafka depicts a terrifying world, a man lost in a world of utter unintelligibility - it is the horror story of the 20th century, where man has sought to negate both his own intelligibility and that of the world. Kafka pre-empts the regimes of Stalin, Hitler and all the other crazies of the 20th Century.

Remember and smile (0/0 people found this helpful)

This is not a light read....BUT, that is what makes it sooo GREAT. It is a book to reflect on. Like a fine wine or a sublime experience, it cannot be judged in its immediate state. It is a book that grows with you...it challenges and encourages the challenging spirit within you. It is hard to read, I must be honest. BUT, you will not regret having made the effort.

Let's start with the end. (0/0 people found this helpful)

What is the story? K. is "arrested", "sentenced" and put to "death". I'm not spoiling anything because this novel is not really a story but a dreamlike description of an ordeal. What happens in the end is more or less irrelevant except for one thing. The last scene of the novel where K. is stabbed dead by two members of the "law enforcement", contains a very important clue to understand the novel. K.'s last words are 'Like a dog!' That's right, like a dog and not like a human being. At the very last moment K. finally understands that during his whole life he was only interested in what he could GET from other people and he never was concerned with what he could GIVE to other people. He lived like an animal so to speak, like a dog.

And that's the reason why he's "arrested". Let's not forget that the word "arrest" also means that someone has ceased to grow up and to develop his character. In a certain way K. is still a child. This second meaning of the word arrest is the reason why no one can tell him why he's arrested, every time that K. asks that question. K. himself is the only person who can answer that question: I'm too selfish and I have to change my ways. There is a chapter that illustrates what I mean.

When K. and his uncle arrive at the house of K.'s lawyer, the door is opened by the lovely maid Leni. K. is obviously very keen on her. There is also a senior clerk of the Court. He has taken a special interest in the trial of K.. They all meet in the bedroom of the lawyer who has a weak heart and has to stay in bed. When the important discussion is about to begin, a noise is heard from the kitchen. K. says that he will go to the kitchen to see what's wrong. With a sigh of relief he closes the door behind him. He sees pretty Leni and forgets all about the important meeting. K. likes to flirt with Leni. At a given moment she says:"All you have to do is to confess that you are guilty". With feminine insight she knows what is wrong with K.. He's guilty of childish egoism. Meanwhile the three others are still waiting in the bedroom of the lawyer.

Another important moment in the novel is when a priest hails K. in the church where he was supposed to meet someone. The priest is a symbol for K's conscience. At a certain moment during their conversation K. asks: "Are you angry with me?" and the priest answers: "I'm not angry with you, but can't you see what lies ahead of you?" At this point K. is very close to his redemption, his problems could be solved at this very moment, if only he had the nerve or the courage to continue this conversation. But no, he says "it's time for me to go back to my work. I'm already late.
Now K. is inexorably doomed.

You will care about your privacy after reading this (4/5 people found this helpful)

Kafka takes George Orwell's nightmare of the Big Brother state of 1984 to the next level. "The Trial" is a powerful story of an individual accused of a crime but told of neither the crime nor the evidence against him. He is being prosecuted by a Court of which he knows nothing and by a process that is secret. The story starts with the arrest of Joseph K. and we are taken on his journey to discover how he can defend himself. The narrative can at times be terrifying, confusing, surreal, and even funny, but we never forget Joseph's anxieties and frustrations at defending himself against... what? He doesn't know.

"The Trial" was never published during Kafka's lifetime, not was it finished. Max Brod has pulled the book together from the manuscripts he was bequeathed by Kafka, and chapters are obviously missing. However, that does not detract from the power of the story and its tragic ending.

Although the book is written about a 20th Century bureaucratic and totalitarian state, it is very relevant to today's world of the information age and the Internet, where so much data on us is gathered from so many sources. We do not know what others know about us - this could be the Government, large corporations or indeed our neighbours. Cardinal Richelieu wrote something like, "If you give me six lines written by the most honest of men, I will find something in them to hang him". Anyone who is concerned about their privacy, and here I don't just mean hiding information we want to keep secret but preventing unnecessary intrusions into out lives and private affairs, should read this book. It will make you care.

This is a book that needs to be read more than once, to get the full impact.

A Disturbing Novel (15/17 people found this helpful)

'The Trial' is not an easy book to read, despite its brevity. It is rough round the edges, patchy in places and often difficult to get through.

Nevertheless, it is a stunning read. The sheer incompetence of K's tormentors is often laugh out loud funny. Yet his persistent attempts to break through walls of ignorance, silence and confusion become darkly tragic in the final pages of the book. It comes with a serious sting in the tale. I immediately re-read the book from cover to cover after the stunning ending. It makes the twisted world of 'Nineteen-eighty four' seem logical. 'The Trial' is a deeply disturbing book. Yet it's also a rewarding novel too. It requires the reader to engross themself within it to truely understand the savage world that Kafka constructs around K.

The Trial (Vintage Classics)

Franz Kafka

Reader Reviews:

Hauntingly prescient (0/0 people found this helpful)

Remember and smile (0/0 people found this helpful)

Let's start with the end. (0/0 people found this helpful)

You will care about your privacy after reading this (4/5 people found this helpful)

A Disturbing Novel (15/17 people found this helpful)

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