“The Trial” by Franz Kafka

This spring marks the hundredth anniversary of the posthumous publication of this classic novel. Kafka (1883-1924) worked on the book in 1914 and 1915 but then abandoned it and did not live to complete it. Prior to his death a decade later, he asked his friend Max Brod to destroy all his uncompleted manuscripts, including this one. But Brod decided not to comply with the request. Instead, he assembled a version of 'The Trial' from the material Kafka left and published it. Despite not being in any kind of a state that its author was happy with, it is now regularly featured on lists of the best or most consequential novels of the Twentieth Century.

It is not a hugely entertaining read in all honesty, but it is worth reading as an early example of modernist literature which sought to break free of established conventions. Some consider that 'The Process' would be a better translation of the German title, because no trial actually takes place. The central character, Josef K, is accused of committing a crime and is investigated over a period of a year by an examining magistrate. Neither he, nor us as readers, are ever told the nature of the crime he has supposedly committed. The book concerns his initial reaction to the accusation and arrest, then his subsequent attempts to get the case against him dropped or prorogued in some way. It is, I guess, first and foremost intended as a fierce satire on a corrupt legal system and of the helpless situation individuals find themselves in when they come up against an official bureaucracy. The final scene is completely chilling. The dystopian originality of the novel, alongside other works by Kafka, have bequeathed to us the term ‘Kafkaesque’ to describe a situation which someone finds to be both frightening and confusing at the same time.