An eternal cry against oppression, and of the quiet, unseen struggle waged by ordinary people

books:

	• The Trial Franz Kafka Schocken, 1995 - 312 pages average customer review:based on 168 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Great Read

Just picked it up on a whim a year or so back - very interesting underrated book that we can all relate to in some manner, but still retains an air of mystery (since his "crime" is never disclosed) to make you think a bit.

Hopefully I don't sound pretentious, but shortly after I read Ivan Illich Deschooling Society. While justice systems aren't schools, I think the phrase "We confuse teaching with being taught...police for security...politics for order...and overall trained to confuse service in place of value" comes into play with The Trial.

Maybe I'm off, but to me, I think Kafka's main goal was illustrating this concept, even though it predates Illich by quite some time.

By stripping away the actual accusation, it doesn't become a book about stopping a murderer, thief, rapist, embezzler. If the accusation were revealed, you would be tricked into confusing service over value - ie you'd naturally feel the protagonist was guilty if accused of something, or you'd naturally feel the court is in perfect right to investigate a SPECIFIC CRIME...and automatically trust that it's order.

But without an accusation, all you are left to examine is what has been accomplished...ie you question the value, no longer blinded by the service. As the book progresses, you see it's just a show people are tricked buying into - judges are important by title alone not because they stop criminals, defendants are automatically in fear of something they haven't done and question their guilt despite it being ambiguous if it's good or bad, and people automatically judge you on what they're told vs. what they believe and abandon any practical thought of their own to the point where strangers can convict someone you've known for quite some time. In the end, you see little is accomplished and people are just following a 9-5 routine uninspired by actual productivity, actual right or wrong, and everyone trapped into the service, not value, mindset.

Interesting to see what others think,but to me, The Trial is a verbatim portrayal of Illich's books.

for more information click here

hauntingly prescient

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.

for more information click here

An eternal cry against oppression, and of the quiet, unseen struggle waged by ordinary people

Franz Kafka has a unique reputation in European literature of the 20th century. He died of tuberculosis in 1924, aged only 41. Were it not for the efforts of his great friend, Max Brod, most, if not all, Kafka's work would have probably been lost. "The Trial" appeared in 1925.

Kafka's work comprised only three novels ("The Trial", "America" and "The Castle"), but numerous stories, letters, diaries and fragments. This is surprisingly little output to have elevated Kafka to the reputation he has enjoyed since his untimely death.

There have been many attempts to interpret Kafka and his view of life. No doubt these attempts will continue, for it is an invariable characteristic of great writers (and indeed of great artists of all kinds) that their work yields fresh insights and also re-affirms ageless truths as new generations of readers arise.

In "The Trial" Kafka treats some of the fundamental dilemmas of human life. There is the struggle of an isolated human being to survive against mysterious, implacable forces of an anonymous, all-powerful judiciary.

The central character, K, is arrested in his bedroom on a charge which is never specified, and is forced to embark on his own defence, which comes to dominate his life, seemingly to no avail. People who are ostensibly on his side obstruct him in his efforts. K is alone in his efforts to defend himself, and has little skill to fall back on. He muddles along as best he can, but with energy and persistence. He never gives up.

There are mysterious connections with people such as Fraulein Burstner who seem to play little role in the central story, but who appear momentarily and disturbingly in K's life. This gives the book an almost dream-like, or perhaps nightmarish, quality - as if there is a parallel universe that we can only glimpse dimly.

When this book appeared, virulent communism was entrenching itself by force in every nook and cranny of Russian life. Other authoritarian regimes such as fascism were about to rise out of the turmoil and disruption following World War 1 and the Great Depression. Of course it would be fatuous to say that Kafka anticipated these developments.

Nevertheless, his work remains the eternal cry of man in the face of oppression, and of the quiet, unseen struggle that many ordinary people have waged against bureaucratic and authoritarian regimes. It is a timeless message. In this respect "The Trial" has much in common with "The Castle."

"The Trial" is certainly heavier going than "America," but reflective readers will appreciate its enduring qualities, and will come to understand why Kafka is such an important writer.

for more information click here

The Fear, Despondency, and Despair of A Soul.

Behind Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, this is perhaps the greatest book in which the author immerses his reader into the protagonist's soul. The damnable truth of the matter is there is little absurd in Kafka's "absurd" prose. This book grips you in the protagonist's fear, despair, despondency, boldness, and indecisiveness. He can trust no one, and everyone turns out to be his enemy. Just imagine how great the story would be if the author lived to complete it. Alas, maybe it would not be as good at all. Anyway, enjoy this classic tale, and learn how little stands between Kafka's written word, and current day.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The terrifying story of Joseph K., a respectable bank functionary, who is suddenly arrested and must spend the rest of his life fighting a charge about which he can get no information.

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

The Forty Sickest, Most Grotesque Books Ever Written
Best Works of Paranoia in Fiction
Reading Queue 1920-1929
Stuff I am reading Now
Current Reading List

trial

Tales from the Hood (Sisters Grimm, Book 6)
The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of ...
The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other ...
Monster
The Appeal

search for books
trial

Impressum / about us