Summary
The Trial, written by Franz Kafka and published posthumously in 1925, is a nightmarish exploration of bureaucracy, guilt, and the human condition.
The story follows Josef K., a respected bank officer who is abruptly arrested one morning for an unspecified crime.
No one tells him what he's been accused of, and despite being allowed to remain free, he’s ensnared in a bewildering and oppressive legal system that grows more surreal and illogical as he tries to defend himself.
The “courts” he encounters are hidden in attics, filled with suffocating rituals, and peopled by clerks and judges who are as apathetic as they are inscrutable.
As Josef K. attempts to navigate this bewildering world, he becomes increasingly paranoid, isolated, and defeated—slowly losing all sense of autonomy and justice.
His desperate efforts to assert his innocence only deepen the absurdity of his plight.