The Trial
106. Franz Kafka, The Trial (trans. Breon Mitchell)
“Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.” Thus begins one of Kafka’s most famous works, in which main character Josef K. becomes embroiled in various shadowy legal processes involving an unspecified crime. All of K.’s attempts to learn the nature of his offense, confront his accusers, or provide a defense only lead to more confusion. The more K. searches for help, the more anxious he becomes about the outcome of his trial and the more deeply he despairs.
I think this is one of those books that really benefit from being taught and discussed in a class. Reading it on my own was difficult, and frankly I didn’t quite see the point of it. Obviously the legal “processes” (if you can call them that!) which operate against K. are horrifying and chilling; but I kept searching for another, perhaps more universal message, and I utterly failed to find it. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, or maybe I just plain don’t get it - either way, I don’t feel at all enriched by having read this book. If I’d read it in an academic setting, I might have a better understanding of the book’s themes. As it is, this novel just left me feeling frustrated. And maybe that’s the point of it, but if so, I don’t think it was a point worth making.