The Trial (German: Der Prozess) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and subjected to the judicial process for an unspecified crime. The Trial may refer to: The Trial, a novel by Franz Kafka. ... “Kafka” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... Philosophical novels are works of fiction in which a significant proportion of the novel is devoted to a discussion of the sort of questions normally addressed in discursive philosophy. ... Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world as the setting for a novel. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... , For other uses, see Munich (disambiguation). ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... “Kafka” redirects here. ...

According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, he never finished the work and gave the manuscript to Brod in 1920. After his death, Brod edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925. Max Brod Max Brod (May 27, 1884 – December 20, 1968) was a German-speaking Jewish author, composer, and journalist. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Trial has been filmed by the director Orson Welles, with Anthony Perkins (as Josef K.) and Romy Schneider. A more recent remake featured Kyle MacLachlan in the same role. In 1999 it was adapted for comics by the Italian artist Guido Crepax. The Trial (aka Le Procès) is a 1962 film directed by Orson Welles, based on the famous novel by Franz Kafka. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated American stage and screen actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho and its three sequels, Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning. ... Romy Schneider (September 23, 1938 – May 29, 1982) was a German-Austrian actress. ... The Trial is a 1993 film made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). ... Kyle MacLachlan (born February 22, 1959, in Yakima, Washington) is a Golden Globe award winning American actor. ... This article is about the year. ... Guido Crepax Guido Crepax (born Guido Crepas, Milan, July 15, 1933-July 31, 2003) was an Italian comics artist, who deeply influenced the European adult comics world in the second half of 20th century. ...

A copy of "The Trial" can be seen in the background of the image on the cover of the popular indie band Belle and Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister album.

Plot Synopsis by Chapter

The Arrest - Conversation with Frau Grubach - Then Fräulein Bürstner

Shortly before his thirtieth birthday, a junior bank manager, Josef K., who lives in lodgings, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. The agents do not name the authority for which they are acting. He is not taken away, however, but left at home to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs. For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ...

In the Empty Courtroom - The Student - The Offices

Josef K goes to visit the magistrate, but instead is forced to have a meeting with an attendant's wife. Looking at the Magistrate's books, he discovers a cache of pornography. Josef succumbs and runs away with the woman, a book keeper in chase.

Fräulein Bürstner's Friend

Josef returns home to find Fräulein Montag, a lodger from another room, moving in with Fräulein Bürstner. He suspects that this is to prevent him from pursuing his affair with the latter woman. Yet another lodger, Captain Lanz, appears to be in league with Montag.

The Whipper

Later, in a store room at his own bank, Josef K discovers the two agents who arrested him being whipped by a flogger for asking Josef for bribes. K. tries to argue with the flogger, saying that the men need not be whipped, but the flogger cannot be swayed.

This surreal event appears to have been staged for his viewing, either to simply frighten him, or to demonstrate the seriousness with which the court views incompetence and corruption. The next day he returns to the store room and is shocked to find everything as he had found it the day before, including the Whipper and the two agents.

K.'s Uncle - Leni

Josef K is visited by his influential uncle, who by coincidence is a friend of a lawyer. That lawyer was with the Clerk of the Court. The uncle is, or appears to be, distressed by Josef's predicament and is at first sympathetic, but becomes concerned that K is underestimating the seriousness of the case. The uncle introduces Josef K to an Advocate, who is attended by Leni, a nurse. K visits Leni, whilst his uncle is talking with the Advocate and the Chief Clerk of the Court, much to his uncle's anger, and to the detriment of his case.

Advocate - Manufacturer - Painter

K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character. K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.

Josef K is advised by one of his bank clients to visit Titorelli, a painter, for advice. Titorelli has no official connections, yet seems to have a deep understanding of the process. He explains: "You see, everything belongs to the Court." He sets out what K's options are, but the consequences of all of them are unpleasant. The laborious requirements of these options, and the limited outlook that they offer, lead the reader to lose hope for Josef K.

Block, the Tradesman - Dismissal of the Advocate

Josef K decides to take control of his own destiny and visits his advocate with the intention of dismissing him. At the advocate's office he meets a downtrodden individual, Block, a client who offers K some insight from a client's perspective. Block's case has continued for five years, yet he appears to have been virtually enslaved by his dependence on the advocate's unpredictable advice. This experience further poisons K's opinion of his advocate, and K is bemused as to why his advocate would think that seeing such a client, in such a state, could change his mind. This chapter was left unfinished by the author.

In The Cathedral

K has to show an important client from Italy around the Cathedral. The client doesn't show up, but just as K is leaving the Cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never known the priest. The priest works for the court, and tells K a fable, (which has been published separately as Before the Law) that is meant to explain his situation, but instead causes confusion, and implies that K's fate is hopeless. Before the Law begins as a parable, then continues with several pages of interpretation between the Priest and Josef K. The gravity of the priest's words prepares the reader for an unpleasant ending. Before the Law is a section of The Trial (German Der Prozeß), a novel by Franz Kafka, that has been published separately from the novel. ...

The End

On the last day of Josef K's thirtieth year, two men arrive to execute him. He offers little resistance, suggesting that he has realised this as being inevitable for some time. They lead him to a quarry where he is expected to kill himself, but he cannot. The two men then execute him. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"

Characters

Josef K.

The hero and protagonist of the novel, K. is the Chief Clerk of a bank. Ambitious, shrewd, more competent than kind, he is on the fast track to success until he is arrested one morning for no reason. There begins his slide into desperation as he tries to grapple with an all-powerful Court and an invisible Law.

Others

Fräulein Bürstner - A boarder in the same house as Josef K. She lets him kiss her one night, but then rebuffs his advances. She makes a brief reappearance in the novel's final pages.

Frau Grubach - The proprietress of the lodging house in which K. lives. She holds K. in high esteem.

Uncle Karl - K.'s impetuous uncle from the country, formerly his guardian. Karl insists that K. hire Huld, the lawyer.

Huld, the Lawyer - K.'s fustian advocate who provides precious little in the way of action and far too much in the way of anecdote.

Leni - Herr Huld's nurse, she's on fire for Josef K. She soon becomes his lover. She shows him her webbed hand, yet another reference to the motif of the hand throughout the book. Apparently, she finds accused men extremely attractive--the fact of their indictment makes them irresistible to her.

Assistant Manager - K.'s unctuous rival at the Bank, only too willing to catch K. in a compromising situation.

Rudi Block, the Tradesman - Block is another accused man and client of Huld. His case is five years old, and he is but a shadow of the prosperous man he once was. All his time, energy, and resources are now devoted to his case. Although he has hired hack lawyers on the side, he is completely and pathetically subservient to Huld.

Titorelli, the Painter - Titorelli inherited the position of Court Painter from his father. He knows a great deal about the comings and goings of the Court's lowest level. He offers to help K., and manages to unload a few identical landscape paintings on the accused man. If the novel had been finished, we might have heard more from Titorelli.

Interpretations

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Existence

Josef K. is guilty of his existence. Although we might sympathize with him and share his concerns through the book, in the end the court is in the right - Josef K. is guilty, guilty of his existence which he tries and fails to justify (note how Josef K. takes his guilt for granted, he never questions why, he simply sets to defend himself against unknown charge). The guilt which is being referred to is not an ordinary guilt which people encounter in their day to day living (for his proprietress Frau Grubach, an average lady, his "case" is something metaphysical which she can't and doesn't have a need to understand), it is a guilt which appears when a man asks himself why does he exist? He can't find the answer (read "defense") and the more he ponders on it the more his guilt increases. He can of course seek for the things which will momentarily distract him from that guilt (such as pleasures from women which Josef K. indulges in) but in the end he has to face the reality and accepts his penalty - death (of this human life), "like a dog".

Bureaucracy

The Trial is both a chilling and blackly amusing tale that maintains a constant, relentless atmosphere of disorientation and quirkiness, right up to the surreal ending. Superficially the subject matter is bureaucracy: an illustration of a truly twisted yet realistic brand of law and church. However, one of the strengths of the novel is in its description of the effects of these circumstances on the life and mind of Josef K. It presents the absurdity of "normal" human nature, of acting upon one manic thought after another and chasing along with surprise after surprise, yet without direction and without result. Max Ernst. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      This article is about the sociological concept. ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ... Absurd can refer to: Look up Absurd in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Absurdism is a philosophy born of Existentialism absurdity, with small a, is a form of Surreal humour Theatre of the Absurd is an artform utilizing the philosophy of Absurdism Absurd (band) is a heavy metal band This is...

Humanity

When analyzing The Trial, it is useful to note that the end of the novel, the death scene, was the first part written by Kafka. K. is never told what he is on trial for, and he maintains his innocence almost to the end. Upon declaring his innocence, he is immediately questioned "innocent of what?" Is it that Josef K. is on trial for his innocence? By confessing his guilt as a human being, perhaps Josef K. could have freed himself from the proceedings. Perhaps the trial against K. was set up because he was incapable of admitting his guilt, and, by extension, his humanity. This theme of not being human, of there not being anything to point to as the "human race", is a theme that Kafka explores throughout his works, one that keeps the book fresh, prompting a questioning of the arbitrary customs and beliefs of life which can appear, in a certain light, just as bizarre as the occurrences in K's life. It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Marriage and Social Relations

Another interpretation is offered by Kafka's diary around the time he began to write the novel. In 1914, he entered into an engagement with Felice Bauer. In a letter to Felice, he compared their nuptial to a couple who, during the terror after the French Revolution, had been tied together upon the scaffold for execution. He visited Felice in Berlin a few times during that year. On the last occasion, that of the official engagement ceremony, he notes in his diary that it was like trial-and-judgment, in which others decided upon the course his life took while he himself was kept aside. A subsequent visit to Felice involved much disputation during which he was again sidelined. Eventually, it was decided that the engagement should be broken off. Kafka described his letter of farewell written on the eve of the first World War as his "speech from the gallows." He himself, it seems, found the prospect of marriage a threat to the sustenance he received from writing. His writing was mainly done at night, a time at which he would have been expected to sleep with his wife. Franz Kafka approximately 1917 Franz Kafka (July 3, 1883 in Prague - June 3, 1924 in Vienna) was one of the major German language writers of the 20th century most of whose work was published posthumously. ... Fiance and Fiancee redirect here. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

In this biographical interpretation it would seem that The Trial parallels Kafka's engagement, and his entering into serious social relations. Such a reading accounts for Josef K's willingness to partake in his own execution, since it mirrors the end of the engagement; that is, the end of Kafka as a "human", as a familial member of society and an ancestor. It also accounts for the bizarre, subdued sexual tension of "The Trial", with the scattered sexual interludes reflecting his private encounters with Felice on his visits to Berlin for the aforementioned family meetings. Such an interpretation accounts for the correspondence between the book and Kafka's life at the time, though the themes explored reach beyond this superficial similarity to Kafka's broader thoughts on society, family, and writing, which must have arisen at such a cross-roads in Kafka's life. The Koanic story related by the prison chaplain, of the man waiting for admittance by a stern doorman to the Court, is especially relevant to this. Although Harvard University has featured a Department of Social Relations (in which Talcott Parsons played a prominent role), and although the term social relations is frequently used in social sciences, there is no commonly agreed meaning for this concept (see also the entry social). ... A koan (pronounced ) is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to intuition. ...

K's execution is seemingly his triumph, in that he realised the constant deferment implicit in his desire for "admittance to the Law" and instead accepted his fate without withering like the old man waiting his whole life at the door of the Court in the chaplain's story. Kafka too at this time accepted the execution or closure upon himself as a "human", deciding he would not lead the life chosen for him but one in his own strange world.

Jewish Identity

Another way to interpret The Trial is to consider what Jean-Paul Sartre has to say about it in his book Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etimology of Hate. As the title suggests, the book relates the way Jews receive a world marred with anti-Semitism. Jewish life in such a world, Sartre argues, is similar to the way K. experienced it, and the way Kafka may have experienced it as well. According to Sartre: Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... Antisemite and Jew (original in French: Réflexions sur la question juive, literally: Reflections on the Jewish Question) is an essay about antisemitism written by Jean-Paul Sartre shortly after the liberation of Paris from German occupation in 1944. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...

"This is perhaps one of the meanings of The Trial by the Jewish Kafka. Like the hero of that novel, the Jewish person is engaged in a long trial. He does not know his judges, scarcely even his lawyers; he does not know what he is charged with, yet he knows that he is considered guilty; judgement is continually put off -- for a week, two weeks -- he takes advantage of these delays to improve his position in a thousand ways, but every precaution taken at random pushes him a little deeper into guilt. His external situation may appear brilliant, but the interminable trial invisibly wastes him away, and it happens eventually ... that men seize him, carry him off on the pretence that he has lost his case, and murder him in some vague area of the suburbs." [88, Schocken Books].^{[citation needed]}

Style

Parable

Kafka intentionally set out to write parables, not just novels, about the human condition. The Trial is a parable that includes the smaller parable of the Gatekeeper. There is clearly a relationship between the two but the exact meaning of either parable is left up to the individual reader. K. and the Priest discuss the many possible readings. Both the short parable and their discussion seem to indicate that the reader is much like the man at the gate; there is a meaning in the story for everyone just as there is one gate to the Law for each person. // For a comparison of parable with other kinds of stories, see Myth, legend, fairy tale, and fable. ...

Relations between The Trial and Crime and Punishment

In 1983 Guillermo Sánchez Trujillo, professor of UNAULA ("Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana" of Medellín, Colombia) undertook a research project to investigate some of the possible sources used by Kafka in writing The Trial. He dedicated twenty years of his life to the investigation, and finally in 2002 published the final results in Crimen y castigo de Franz Kafka, anatomía de El proceso ("Crime and Punishment by Franz Kafka, anatomy of The Trial"), edited by UNAULA. Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Nickname: Location of the city (urban in red) and municipality (dark gray) of Medellín in Antioquia Department. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ...

At the end of his investigation, Sánchez advanced the theory that Kafka had used Crime and Punishment and other works by Fyodor Dostoevsky, as palimpsest to write his works, including The Trial. By closely comparing Crime and Punishment with The Trial, Sanchez discovered that Kafka used the first three chapters of the second part of Crime and Punishment (in the order 3, 2, 1), to write and organize The Trial. For other uses, see Crime and Punishment (disambiguation). ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, IPA: , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821–February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian novelist and writer of fiction whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have had a profound and lasting effect... A palimpsest is a manuscript page, scroll, or book that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. ...

This idea, and the role of Crime and Punishment as a "template" for Kafka's novel, was first discussed in close textual detail in the study by W. J. Dodd (now Professor of Modern German Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK), "Kafka and Dostoyevsky: the shaping of influence", Macmillan, Houndmills 1992, chapter 6, pp. 108-154. ISBN 0-333-55865-0. Dodd specifically argues that in writing The Trial Kafka was impelled by a critical response to Dostoyevsky's metaphysics, and that a comparative reading shows Kafka's novel to be a sceptic's reworking of Dostoyevsky's religious universe, with significant features of a counterfactual.

Sánchez also put forward a new theory on the correct order of the chapters of the novel -- something which has never been clear because of the confusing way Kafka had of systematizing his work. Kafka bequeathed his works to his friend Max Brod. After Kafka died, Brod started to organize and edit Kafka's works to publish them, but with The Trial Brod couldn't decipher Kafka's system, so he organized the chapters in an intuitive and arbitrary way. Max Brod Max Brod (May 27, 1884 – December 20, 1968) was a German-speaking Jewish author, composer, and journalist. ...

The new order found in the study re-establishes the logic of the plot and fits on it the chapters that were relegated to the appendix by Brod and the editors. But the study also argues that the work A Dream, published as an independent short story, was an essential chapter of the novel. A Dream is rapper Commons first single from the forthcoming Finding Forever album, released early as part of the soundtrack to the movie Freedom Writers. ...

The investigation also confirmed the autobiographic contents that Kafka put in the novel, and the identity of the real persons and the historical events that inspired some of the characters and events of the novel. Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ...

A critical edition of the novel with the new order was published in 2005 by UNAULA, containing an introduction detailing the most important points of the investigation and its results and also, side notes explaining the creative process of the author and the use of Dostoevsky's work as a palimpsest. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The UNAULA edition arranges the chapters thus:

1. The Arrest
2. Conversation with Frau Grubach then Fräulein Bürstner
3. B.’s Friend
4. Initial Inquiry
5. In the Empty Courtroom - The Student - The Offices
6. The Flogger
7. To Elsa
8. Public Prosecutor
9. The Uncle - Leni
10. Lawyer- Manufacturer - Painter
11. In The Cathedral
12. Block, the Merchant - Dismissal of the Lawyer
13. Struggle with the Vice President
14. The Building
15. A Dream
16. Journey to His Mother
17. The End

More info see: (Spanish) [1]

Film portrayals

In the 1962 Orson Welles movie adaptation of The Trial, Josef K. is played by Anthony Perkins. Kyle MacLachlan portrays him in the 1993 version. // Events Dr. No launches the James Bond film series, the longest-running motion picture franchise of all time, running more than 40 years. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated American stage and screen actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho and its three sequels, Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning. ... Kyle MacLachlan (born February 22, 1959, in Yakima, Washington) is a Golden Globe award winning American actor. ... The year 1993 in film involved many significant films. ...

Notes

References

External links

• The Trial: A Study Guide
• Freely available at Project Gutenberg
• The Trial movie at liketelevision.com
• The Trial (1993) at the Internet Movie Database
• Le Procès (1962) at the Internet Movie Database
• (Spanish) Critical Edition in Spanish
• SparkNotes