Franz Kafka

Written in 1914, The Trial is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century: the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, Kafka's nightmare has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers. This new edition is based upon the work of an international team of experts who have restored the text, the sequence of chapters, and their division to create a version that is as close as possible to the way the author left it. In his brilliant translation, Breon Mitchell masterfully reproduces the distinctive poetics of Kafka's prose, revealing a novel that is as full of energy and power as it was when it was first written.

A New Translation Based on the Restored Text

The Trial

Atli 💗🧚🏽‍♀️

"You’re under arrest all right, but not the way a thief would be. If you’re arrested like a thief, that’s bad, but this arrest —. It seems like something scholarly, I’m sorry if that sounds stupid, but it seems like something scholarly that I don’t understand."

LMFAOOO they really taking this being his bitches job seriously 😭

... when K. missed his hat, which he’d left in his room, all three tripped over each other’s heels to get it, which indicated a certain embarrassment on their part after all.

see what i mean? it doesn't seem al that bad to me lol

"And to facilitate that, and to render your arrival at the bank as inconspicuous as possible, I’ve arranged for three of your colleagues here to be placed at your disposal.”

heyy if being arrested meant having your own bodyguards then arrest me sir! 

“How can I go to the bank if I’m under arrest?” “Oh, I see,” said the inspector, who was already at the door, “you’ve misunderstood me; you’re under arrest, certainly, but that’s not meant to keep you from carrying on your profession. Nor are you to be hindered in the course of your ordinary life.”

Someone must have slandered Josef K. for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested.

“Like a dog!” he said; it seemed as though the shame was to outlive him.

“Lies are made into a universal system.”

The officials lack contact with the common people; they’re well prepared for the normal, average trial, which rolls along its course almost on its own and needs only a push now and then, but faced with very simple cases or with particularly complex ones, they’re often at a loss;

raaawwrrr !! we love a lady who knows her place ! 😏

The way she’s sitting on my lap, as if it were the only proper place for her!

A certain fear of K. was unmistakable in his action, yet he dared to provoke K. even further by stroking and squeezing the woman’s arm with his free hand.

They all had badges, as far as he could see. They were all one group.

“I have to lock it after you, no one else is permitted in.” “Very sensible,” said K., “but it’s already too crowded.” But he went back in anyway.

pfft K is i, and i am he. and we are one.

He had an aversion to even the slightest outside help in this affair of his; he didn’t want to enlist anyone’s aid and thus initiate them in the matter even distantly.

Annabelle Gauthier

APRIL 27. [. .] Incapable of living with people, of speaking. Complete immersion in myself, thinking of myself. Apathetic, witless, fearful. I have nothing to say to anyone -never.

 I can't endure worry, and perhaps have been created expressly in order to die of it. 

 Nevertheless, within these limits there is room to live, and for this reason I shall probably exploit them to a despicable degree.

But the hands of one of the partners were already at K's throat, while the other thrust the knife deep into his heart and turned it there twice. With failing eyes K. could still see the two of them immediately before him, cheek leaning against cheek, watching the final act. "Like a dog!" he said; it was as if the shame of it must outlive him.

I'm done with the book lol. It was becoming so long-winded too. The narrator was absolutely boring.

Okay, now I'm done with the book lol. It was becoming so long-winded too. The narrator was absolutely boring.

Molly M

I’m in the minority on this but I just couldn’t get into it. I love Kafka but this was just soooo boring, I can’t tolerate the main character. He doesn’t do anything I or anyone would do. Whatever it is I was supposed to get or something just went right over my head. 

Athena

I can’t do it guys. If I need to finish another masterpiece of him I think we all can agree to put me on psych ward.

Matcha Donut

Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers.

sophie <3

Lila R E

I think a lot of this flew over my head a bit (it didn't help that it took me 4 months to get through reading on & off) but what I did get was a wonderful mix of absurdist, occasionally funny, confusing and thought-provoking. Fortunately not actually about The Law but some really interesting themes of guilt/innocence, reputation, logic and reason were running throughout. I'm also obsessed with Kafka's style of writing - I don't know whether it has to do with the book being in translation but it reminds me of other European authors like Camus, equally reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller (or more likely Vonnegut and Heller were inspired by the Europeans...). The language is just so matter-of-fact but has this underlying ironic tone that makes it so entertaining - so I do want to discover more of his work! The trial will also definitely be worth a reread at some point although I think I want something a bit less wordy for now.

jennifer 

i guess although you don’t know why things are the way they are, you can still enjoy a good meal and company. not knowing a higher purpose doesn’t stop you from enjoying the moment

Un día al despertarse Josef K. descubre dos hombres vestidos estrafalariamente, que vienen a arritarle, en nombre de un misterioso tribunal.....

El proceso

Silvia Sants

Alterna momentos de auténtica genialidad con otros que son un verdadero truño.

i have never been more glad to have read a book in my life

jana 

Cult successfully scams manwhore finance bro + the version I read had excerpts from kafka’s diaries at the end 

I think this book in some way shows how he feels about marriage because in book he is going on trial for something, but its never said what is that something. It kind of feels like he's describing that trial as a marriage like he's not sure what his getting into and he is confused about it all the time. But I don't know that's just how it made me feel.

Korbin

Gigi

Bouke van der Bijl

Bit disappointed with this book, mostly because it's super raw and unfinished. Some chapters and pages could've been dropped cold without any influence on the story (like the one where he seduces his roommate). There's also one chapter that's just not finished at all.

Despite these flaws, the message is still there: humanity builds gigantic inhuman bureaucracies that crush human souls into submission. This is a timeless danger, and I believe a reason Kafka's book still has remained so appealing (in a depressing sort of way) is that the book's universe reads as something that could happen in the next 10 years.

Proces

Szczerze nie spodziewałam się, że kończąc tą książkę będę jak małe dziecko. Sposób w jaki Kafka używa słów by storzyć magiczną i tajemniczą atmosferę jest powalający. Uważam, że jest to dzieło warte przeczytania.

Martina

The lack of information the story gives the reader is really confusing, maddening and irritating. It left me in a terrible mood, I was sad, angry, and most of all I wanted to slap some of the characters. The book is neither a smash nor pass, but somewhere in between, in my opinion.

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

The trial

eliz

dnf at 80%, read the rest from summarized notes

this worsened my physical and mental condition at the moment (literally was giving me headaches from time to time I pick it up)

never seen this type of approach before. everything is merged into a single paragraph: thoughts, actual narration, dialogues/conversations? I don't understand? if it was actually written like this in its original language then it's terrible. also, since it's an unfinished novel the main subject is mostly still filled with unresolved issues so, meh

excerpt:
p. 42 "What has happened to me is only a single instance and as such of no great importance, ... but it is representative of a misguided policy which is being directed against many other people as well. It is for these that I take up my stand here, not for myself."

ellis

The Trial (German: Der Process) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.

Boxuan Mao

"No," "Do not have to admit that everything he says is true, just accept it as a necessity."

Le procès

Sarah Escorsa

A gripping work of psychological horror, in its depiction of bureaucracy run amok Franz Kafka's The Trial skirts the line between fantasy and reality. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the German with an introduction by Idris Parry. 'Somebody must have laid false information against Josef K., for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong.' From this first sentence onwards, Josef K. is on trial for his right to exist. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral. Maintaining an atmosphere of unease throughout, this chilling, thought-provoking novel, more than any other, is infinitely perceptive about the nature of terror and the absurd meaninglessness and futility of human life. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-speaking insurance clerk who despised his job, preferring to spend his time writing. Nevertheless, Kafka published little during his lifetime, and ordered his closest friend to burn the mass of unpublished manuscripts - now familiar to us as some of the most influential novels and short stories of the twentieth century - after his death. Kafka's novels, all available in Penguin Modern Classics, include The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika. If you enjoyed The Trial, you might like Kafka's The Castle, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'This compelling, prophetic novel anticipates the insanity of modern bureaucracy and the coming of totalitarianism' Daily Telegraph 'It is the fate and perhaps the greatness of [The Trial] that it offers everything and confirms nothing' Albert Camus

Jas Wang

Wow. wow. wow. 
I can see why people dislike the book, but although it may not be a finished piece, he is a genius.

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Liked:
- mundaneness of the events but still interesting enough for the reader
- Liked the Catedral scene
- The scene where K. finally finds the courts and presents his speech.

Disliked:
- How we never got an explanation of his charges.
- The unfinished part of the chapter where he is talking to the painter.
- The final chapter seemed quite abrupt and didn't resolve any of the questions that I had had.
- Confused by the multiple female characters throughout the story and their importance to K. / the plot.

Overall, enjoyed the book quite a bit. Found the language easy to read but at times it was hard to follow (as it seems to be by design to reflect the trouble K. had). Engaging while still being quite slow paced and without much action.

Translated with an introduction by Idris Parry. 'Somebody must have laid false information against Josef K., for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong' Josef K., an ordinary bank clerk, is accused of a crime he did not commit, whose nature is never revealed to him. As he tries to defend his innocence amid a labyrinthine world of anonymous bureaucrats, stifling courtrooms and casual brutality, he becomes increasingly uncertain of his fate and spirals towards destruction. Kafka's gripping, unnerving parable about the nature of terror and the futility of human life is at once nightmarish and chillingly real.

Hux Sessa

Narrates the experiences and reactions of a respectable bank functionary after his abrupt arrest on an undisclosed charge

Sofia Diaz

Olivera Mitić

I hate reviewing classics, but I suppose I have to say a thing or two about this one while it's still fresh. 
This novel felt pointless. There, I said it. Reading a book is like a journey in a way. You travel to a destination and that destination is the ending. The Trial completely failed to deliver me such a thing as a solid destination. Or a destination at all. Or really a journey I'd find the slightest bit enjoyable. It was more like spending hours of my life I will never get back on something that doesn't even have the decency to let me get anything out of it. 
I get all of the symbolism behind it and I get the idea, but come on now, how on earth is this considered to be a good book? A great one even? 
It's not to say that I hated it. I didn't. It just made me feel nothing. The whole book was like a flat line for me. Nothing made me angry or annoyed, but I also can't name you one scene that I liked.
I think it simply wasn't for me.

The Trial A New Translation Based on the Restored Text

Reviews

Highlights