The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka (original title Der Prozess) that tells the surreal and unsettling story of Josef K., a man who is unexpectedly arrested by mysterious authorities for an unspecified crime and then struggles to navigate an opaque and irrational legal system. Throughout the book, K. never learns what he’s accused of, and the court’s bizarre procedures, hidden offices, and arbitrary power trap him in an endless struggle for meaning and justice. The story ends with his execution, still without explanation, highlighting the helplessness of the individual against inscrutable authority.

The novel explores themes of bureaucratic absurdity, alienation, guilt without clear cause, and powerlessness in a world governed by impersonal institutions. Kafka’s work gave rise to the term “Kafkaesque”—describing situations that are nightmarishly complex, illogical, and oppressive.