The Trial (Penguin twentieth century classics)

by Franz Kafka (Author), Franz Kafka (Author), Franz Kafka (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $3.35

  From the first sentence onwards, Josef K. is on trial for his very existence in a novel which is infinitely perceptive about the nature of terror. Idris Parry introduces his new translation, based on the accurate German text established by Malcolm Pasley, with an essay in which he points to the autobiographical elements in The Trial , in particular Kafka's broken engagement to Felice Bauer.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.35

  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.

• New

  Paperback
  2001

  $10.58

  The terrifying tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank, who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. A nightmare vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes.

• New

  Hardcover
  1992

  $15.32

  The story of the mysterious indictment, trial and reckoning forced upon Kafka's Joseph K. is one of the twentieth century's master parables which has influenced almost every major writer since. By rendering the absurd and the terrifying with scrupulous factual accuracy and evenness of tone, Kafka presents the world we recognize in a gripping narrative which is also a revelation of its hidden significance.