The Trial
by Franz Kafka · Der Process
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1925 (written 1914-1915)
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- German
- Length
- Medium · 280 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Trial, translated by Breon MitchellSchocken, 1999Translated from the restored critical text, with Kafka's chapter order and unfinished fragments.
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Josef K., a bank official, is arrested on the morning of his thirtieth birthday without being told what he is accused of. He is left free to go about his life while his case proceeds in a court that sits in tenement attics and whose law no one has read. He hires a lawyer, seeks help from a painter and a priest, and hears the parable Before the Law, but never learns the charge. A year later two men in frock coats lead him to a quarry and kill him. Kafka left the novel unfinished; Max Brod published it.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Trial are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
