The Trial

"The Trial" is an unfinished novel by the Austrian writer of Jewish origin Franz Kafka (1883–1924), telling the story of Joseph K., who is arrested on his thirtieth birthday for reasons unknown. The protagonist desperately tries to make sense of the judicial process, getting lost in the labyrinths of surreal bureaucracy. The novel is written in the spirit of Kafka's modern avant-garde: reality loses its meaningful connections and logic, becoming elusive, like a dream. As an appendix, the unfinished chapters of the novel and the passages crossed out by the author are published.