Product Description

Written in 1914, The Trial is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century: the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, Kafka's nightmare has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers. This new edition is based upon the work of an international team of experts who have restored the text, the sequence of chapters, and their division to create a version that is as close as possible to the way the author left it.

In his brilliant translation, Breon Mitchell masterfully reproduces the distinctive poetics of Kafka's prose, revealing a novel that is as full of energy and power as it was when it was first written.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27940 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-25
• Released on: 1999-05-25
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
The story of The Trial's publication is almost as fascinating as the novel itself. Kafka intended his parable of alienation in a mysterious bureaucracy to be burned, along with the rest of his diaries and manuscripts, after his death in 1924. Yet his friend Max Brod pressed forward to prepare The Trial and the rest of his papers for publication. When the Nazis came to power, publication of Jewish writers such as Kafka was forbidden; Kafka's writings, many of which have distinctively Jewish themes, did not find a broad audience until after World War II. (Hannah Arendt once observed that although "during his lifetime he could not make a decent living, [Kafka] will now keep generations of intellectuals both gainfully employed and well-fed.") Among the current crop of Kafka heirs is Breon Mitchell, the translator of this edition of The Trial. Rather than tidying up Kafka's unconventional grammar and punctuation (as previous translators have done), Mitchell captures the loose, uneasy, even uncomfortable constructions of Kafka's original story. His translation technique is the only way to convey the comedy and confusion of this narrative, in which Josef K., "without having done anything truly wrong," is arrested, tried, convicted and executed--on a charge that is never disclosed to him. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Library Journal
Kafka's final work was left unfinished at the time of his 1924 death, and the original 1925 and subsequent editions were edited according to the standards of the day. This edition endeavors to restore the text as closely as possible to the original manuscript. According to the publisher, "This translation makes slight changes in the chapter divisions and sequence of chapter fragments." In addition to the text, this volume includes a bibliography and a chronology of the author's life.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Kafka's 'legalese' is alchemically fused with a prose of great verve and intense readability."
--James Rolleston, professor of Germanic languages and literatures, Duke University

"Breon Mitchell's translation is an accomplishment of the highest order that will honor Kafka far into the twenty-first century."
--Walter Abish, author of How German Is It -- Review

Customer Reviews

a classsic that i did not enjoy but did find interesting
it is well written but the whole story made me increasingly tense and anxious, as well it should. this was not a book that was fun or pleasurable to read. but it was extremely interesting.

One of the most important writers of the 20th century
One morning Joseph K. is arrested. It is never made clear what the charges are, but K. always maintains his innocence, as he grapples with a bureaucracy that slowly strangles his career and consumes his life.
Franz Kafka's 'The Trial' was published posthumously shortly after his death. It was never completely finished and it was unclear how the chapters were to be ordered. It is no surprise then that the plot is somewhat episodic. I had expected the story to be a dystopian nightmare, instead it was blackly humourous as K. deals with the judicial bureaucracy and various absurd situations.
There are many themes and interpretations, but the most obvious (and to me the most relevant) is the power of government and bureaucracy to destroy lives, not through active malice but as an impersonal force like a car driving over a squirrel . Once K. has been arrested he can never be acquitted, he can only hope to delay the final guilty verdict.
'The Trial' is a monumentally important work, that is more relevant than ever as government and its attendant bureaucracies have more impact on our lives with every passing year.

What a wonderful nightmare!
The Trial is like falling asleep into a splendid deleterious nightmare, with all of the dread and Angst, and never being quite able to find the code to lead oneself out of the intricately spun labyrinth. It surely will be a joy for those capable of opening up to Kafka's complex existential world. It is said that Kafka laughed obstreperously while reading this book. I tried to laugh along with him, but I believe there are a myriad of other approaches to this novella that are just as appropriate. I recommend to all.