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Cover of The Trial

The Trial

Franz Kafka (2020-10-01)

Subgenre
Age groupAdult 18+
Content ratingPG-13
Pages236 (Quick Read (<250))
Setting
CSM age16

Content levels

ViolenceMild
Sexual contentNone
LanguageNone

Trigger warnings

AnxietyMental ManipulationGaslightingState PersecutionPsychological TormentDepressionSelf-Destruction

Positive tags

Not yet tagged

Tropes

AntiheroKafka-Esque BureaucracyUnreliable NarratorFish out of WaterHidden CrimeState Oppression

Themes

Power and CorruptionIsolationAbsurdismGuilt and InnocenceBureaucracyExistential DreadThe Individual vs the State

Synopsis

In Kafka's powerful and disturbing novel, an innocent man is arrested and repeatedly interrogated for a crime that is never ever explained. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is translated from German by Douglas Scott and Chris Waller, and features an afterword by David Stuart Davies. On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, a young bank official named Joseph K is arrested although he has done nothing wrong and is never told what he’s been charged with. The Trial is the chronicle of his fight to prove his innocence, of his struggles and encounters with the invisible Law and the untouchable Court where he must make regular visits. It is an account, ultimately, of state-induced self-destruction presenting in a nightmarish scenario the persecution of the outsider and the incomprehensible machinations of the state. Using the power of simple, straightforward language Kafka draws the reader into this bleak and frightening world so that we too experience the fears, uncertainties and tragedy of Joseph K.

Tags

Literary FictionPsychological FictionPhilosophical FictionExistential LiteratureDystopian