The Trial

by Kafka, Franz

• ISBN13: 9780805210408
• ISBN10: 0805210407
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-03-28
• Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE

Summary

The Trialtells the terrifying tale of Joseph K., a respectable functionary in a bank who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential take, a parable, or a prophecy, this hauntingly believable story stands out as one of the great novels of our times. Kafka's unsurpassed nightmare vision rings with chilling truth as it foreshadows the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes. This definitive edition includes Kafka's own drawings as well as excerpts from his diaries during the period in which he wroteThe Trial.

Author Biography

Breon Mitchell has received the ATA German Literary Prize, among other translation awards. He is a professor of Germanic studies and comparative literature at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
George Steiner
CHAPTER ONE The Arrest Conversation with Frau Grubach Then Fräulein Bürstner	1	(30)
CHAPTER TWO First Interrogation	31	(18)
CHAPTER THREE In the Empty Courtroom The Student The Offices	49	(25)
CHAPTER FOUR Fräulein Bürstner's Friend	74	(9)
CHAPTER FIVE The Whipper	83	(8)
CHAPTER SIX K.'s Uncle Leni	91	(22)
CHAPTER SEVEN Lawyer Manufacturer Painter	113	(53)
CHAPTER EIGHT Block, the Tradesman Dismissal of the Lawyer	166	(31)
CHAPTER NINE In the Cathedral	197	(26)
CHAPTER TEN The End	223	(10)
APPENDIX I The Unfinished Chapters	233	(24)
On the Way to Elsa	233	(2)
Journey to His Mother	235	(4)
Prosecuting Counsel	239	(6)
The House	245	(5)
Conflict with the Assistant Manager	250	(6)
A Fragment	256	(1)
APPENDIX II The Passages Deleted by the Author	257	(7)
APPENDIX III Postscripts	264	(11)
Max Brod
To the First Edition (1925)	264	(8)
To the Second Edition (1935)	272	(2)
To the Third Edition (1946)	274	(1)
APPENDIX IV Excerpts from Kafka's Diaries	275