{"product_id":"the-trial-penguin-modern-classics-9780141182902","title":"The Trial (Penguin Modern Classics)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA gripping work of psychological horror  in its depiction of bureaucracy run amok Franz Kafkas The Trial skirts the line between fantasy and reality. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the German with an introduction by Idris Parry. Somebody must have laid false information against Josef K.  for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong. From this first sentence onwards  Josef K. is on trial for his right to exist. Once arrested  he is released  but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening  as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate  his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control  he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral. Maintaining an atmosphere of unease throughout  this chilling  thought-provoking novel  more than any other  is infinitely perceptive about the nature of terror and the absurd meaninglessness and futility of human life. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-speaking insurance clerk who despised his job  preferring to spend his time writing. Nevertheless  Kafka published little during his lifetime  and ordered his closest friend to burn the mass of unpublished manuscripts - now familiar to us as some of the most influential novels and short stories of the twentieth century - after his death. Kafkas novels  all available in Penguin Modern Classics  include The Trial  The Castle  and Amerika. If you enjoyed The Trial  you might like Kafkas The Castle  also available in Penguin Modern Classics. This compelling  prophetic novel anticipates the insanity of modern bureaucracy and the coming of totalitarianism Daily Telegraph It is the fate and perhaps the greatness of The Trial that it offers everything and confirms nothing Albert Camus\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45792431898677,"sku":"ByrdShop_0141182903","price":66.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780141182902.jpg?v=1784749165","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-trial-penguin-modern-classics-9780141182902","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}