Published posthumously in 1924 by Kafka's friend, Max Trod, after his death, The Trial is a criticism of a totalitarian form of government, which traps an individual into systems of oppression and inhibits them from any means of escape. The protagonist of the story, Josef K, is accused of a crime that he didn't commit. The absurdity of the entire ordeal, however, is that the nature of the crime is never revealed to him or to us, the readers. The more Josef K ventures into systems of authority and 'justice', to prove his ...
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Published posthumously in 1924 by Kafka's friend, Max Trod, after his death, The Trial is a criticism of a totalitarian form of government, which traps an individual into systems of oppression and inhibits them from any means of escape. The protagonist of the story, Josef K, is accused of a crime that he didn't commit. The absurdity of the entire ordeal, however, is that the nature of the crime is never revealed to him or to us, the readers. The more Josef K ventures into systems of authority and 'justice', to prove his innocence, the more he becomes entangled in the procedural complexities of the court and the justice system. His attempt to prove his innocence only implicates him further and the increasing uncertainty of his fate propels him towards making misguided choices. Kafka's works, more often than not, portray a bleak, hopeless world where a just society and governance is more a matter of imagination than reality. He compels his readers to question the monotony of the systems around them as well as structures of authority. Kafka's The Trial represents a solemn yet surreal world where an individual is isolated; his freedom and his rights stifled; and any 'trial' that occurs is simply a farce wherein different structures of authority push an individual into an inescapable maze.
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Add this copy of The Trial to cart. $14.59, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by V & S Publisher.
Add this copy of The Trial to cart. $25.75, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2022 by V & S Publisher.
Joseph K. is an average man. He's actually quite boring - most of his time is spent at the bank where he works, where he dreams of future promotions.
Imagine his surprise, when one morning, he is arrested in his apartment! The men who've come for him don't know what he's done, but no one else does either. He's arrested, but he gets to keep going to work and going about his regular business. Its all very strange.
As he learns more about the strange workings of the courts, he realizes he's in more trouble than he'd thought. Everybody seems to be a part of the court, but nobody knows how the courts work. And certainly, no one knows what he's been arrested for, or how he can help himself. Unfortunately, he's already been assumed as guilty by the court, leaving his attempts quite futile.
