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The Trial

Franz Kafka

Start date: December 1, 2017

Finish date: December 31, 2017

Why we're reading this: December 2017, New School
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Oct 22, 2009 Patrick rated it really liked it

Kafka's Trial inhabits the world of the surreal so completely that reading the book is like walking into a dream. Just like a dream, the story is losely coherent and there is an odd notion that emotions is the only thing that drives the story. These emotion of being lost in a huge legal system in which K does not know what he is being accused of, combined with fear and lust pervades the whole book.

Kafka presents the justice system as a farce in which nothing really happens, except the action th Kafka's Trial inhabits the world of the surreal so completely that reading the book is like walking into a dream. Just like a dream, the story is losely coherent and there is an odd notion that emotions is the only thing that drives the story. These emotion of being lost in a huge legal system in which K does not know what he is being accused of, combined with fear and lust pervades the whole book.

Kafka presents the justice system as a farce in which nothing really happens, except the action the perpetuates the buearcracy. It is a world where the lawyers are self-serving, judges appear to be influenced by friends and acquaintances rather than the law, and the defendants are forever waiting for their day in court. The people who are associated with the court in some way are also trying to peddle their influence on the judge in exchange for money (ie:lobbyist).

The accused men in the book seems to be celebrities and are sought after by the women. In this case, bad press is better than no press at all.

The court system in The Trial seems to resemble the extralegal court for terrorists in todays world in which the accused is assumed guilt and proof to the contrary does not influence the court just opinions or vague suspicions (ie: intelligence) behind closed doors because the court cannot definitely prove a terrorist violation of the law before it happens. One can almost draw a conclusion that the Trial is what an innocent American citizen who is put in G-bay in Cuba would feel. I do not think this story can be about totalitarianism because in totalitarian regimes, people know that they can be placed in jail for no reason whereas in this book K seems to genuinely not know why he is being arrested.

I did enjoy the sense of suffocation that K undergoes when he is at court because of the external heat that mirrors the claustrophobic experiences he must feel by undergoing a case that goes on indefinitely without his knowing what he is being accused of.

My only knock against the book is that it needs to be read slowly and deliberately in order to inhabit Kafka's world completely. ...more

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Feb 10, 2014 Dave rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic-lit

There are at least 2 levels that you can read this Trial. First it is an absurd satire of bureaucratic legal system. Not so interesting. Second it is about guilt. Guilt of religious nature. K is guilty of what he doesn't know. So how can he prove or atone? The guilt/trial overtakes his whole life.

The best chapter is Cathedral, the penultimate chapter. I understand that much of this is Jewish theology/morality/pessimism and it's ironic to use a christian cathedral and Crucifixes - an atonement a ...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Aira Nutakki marked it as to-read

Reading Challenge : Existentialism, 10 points.

10 points is too measly for such heavy reads :)

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May 25, 2020 Charles rated it it was amazing

We are on a trial. The verdict is in. We are all guilty. We are all Josef K. We don’t know why we are on a trial and trying to make sense of the trial. In the end, should death be the end of the trial? Unless you believe in God, what hope is there after death?

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