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Title: The Trial (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
ISBN: 0679409947
Author:
Franz Kafka
Publicate Date: 1992-06-30
Publish: 1992-06-30
List Price: $20.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $6.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.18
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| Customer Review: |
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1: An eternal cry against oppression, and of the quiet, unseen struggle waged by ordinary people
Franz Kafka has a unique reputation in European literature of the 20th century. He died of tuberculosis in 1924, aged only 41. Were it not for the efforts of his great friend, Max Brod, most, if not all, Kafka's work would have probably been lost. "The Trial" appeared in 1925.
Kafka's work comprised only three novels ("The Trial", "America" and "The Castle"), but numerous stories, letters, diaries and fragments. This is surprisingly little output to have elevated Kafka to the reputation he has enjoyed since his untimely death.
There have been many attempts to interpret Kafka and his view of life. No doubt these attempts will continue, for it is an invariable characteristic of great writers (and indeed of great artists of all kinds) that their work yields fresh insights and also re-affirms ageless truths as new generations of readers arise.
In "The Trial" Kafka treats some of the fundamental dilemmas of human life. There is the struggle of an isolated human being to survive against mysterious, implacable forces of an anonymous, all-powerful judiciary.
The central character, K, is arrested in his bedroom on a charge which is never specified, and is forced to embark on his own defence, which comes to dominate his life, seemingly to no avail. People who are ostensibly on his side obstruct him in his efforts. K is alone in his efforts to defend himself, and has little skill to fall back on. He muddles along as best he can, but with energy and persistence. He never gives up.
There are mysterious connections with people such as Fraulein Burstner who seem to play little role in the central story, but who appear momentarily and disturbingly in K's life. This gives the book an almost dream-like, or perhaps nightmarish, quality - as if there is a parallel universe that we can only glimpse dimly.
When this book appeared, virulent communism was entrenching itself by force in every nook and cranny of Russian life. Other authoritarian regimes such as fascism were about to rise out of the turmoil and disruption following World War 1 and the Great Depression. Of course it would be fatuous to say that Kafka anticipated these developments.
Nevertheless, his work remains the eternal cry of man in the face of oppression, and of the quiet, unseen struggle that many ordinary people have waged against bureaucratic and authoritarian regimes. It is a timeless message. In this respect "The Trial" has much in common with "The Castle."
"The Trial" is certainly heavier going than "America," but reflective readers will appreciate its enduring qualities, and will come to understand why Kafka is such an important writer.
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2: I dont get it
I had never read Kafka before until this book, which from reputation is supposed to be one of the finest works ever put to paper. Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but I read a lot of books, so I am not coming out of the clear blue when I say this book wasn't very good. I will break it down in these few points.
1- It is physically excruciating to read. There are no breaks in dialogue or paragraphs. During the course of reading I would forget (or loose interest) who was saying what to whom. The other problem was the internal monologue and motivations of each character were bunched up with everything else. Now some people may find this brilliant but I don't. Maybe it was to make the reader feel as claustrophobic as the protagonist, maybe I was to feel desperately trapped, but it didn't work for me.
2- The plot. There have been many dystopian books about bureaucracy published over the years (Frankly Crime and Punishment is better then this, or anything by Heller), but I was confused why he was so apathetic and relaxed about the charges or if this is how all courts in this Universe Operated. I didn't get a sense that the world he lived in was one where The Trail would even exist like say, a 1984.
3- The book is self admittedly unfinished and the author wished for it not to be published since it is a jumbled mess.
4- There are some very good descriptions in this book that I enjoyed. When ever K was left to himself without any other characters gave me a sense of his humanity. But other then that it was crap. And the good parts were so few and far in between I felt almost beaten and exhausted from reading it.
From reading other peoples descriptions about how amazing and brilliant it is, all I can say is to each his own. The only way I can see brilliance in this, is if Kafka intended to make all the readers feel as tortured and lost in some abysmal bureaucratic circle. That's the feeling I got while reading this, that it was going nowhere and there was no escape. So if that was his intent then Bravo.
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3: Great Read
Just picked it up on a whim a year or so back - very interesting underrated book that we can all relate to in some manner, but still retains an air of mystery (since his "crime" is never disclosed) to make you think a bit.
Hopefully I don't sound pretentious, but shortly after I read Ivan Illich Deschooling Society. While justice systems aren't schools, I think the phrase "We confuse teaching with being taught...police for security...politics for order...and overall trained to confuse service in place of value" comes into play with The Trial.
Maybe I'm off, but to me, I think Kafka's main goal was illustrating this concept, even though it predates Illich by quite some time.
By stripping away the actual accusation, it doesn't become a book about stopping a murderer, thief, rapist, embezzler. If the accusation were revealed, you would be tricked into confusing service over value - ie you'd naturally feel the protagonist was guilty if accused of something, or you'd naturally feel the court is in perfect right to investigate a SPECIFIC CRIME...and automatically trust that it's order.
But without an accusation, all you are left to examine is what has been accomplished...ie you question the value, no longer blinded by the service. As the book progresses, you see it's just a show people are tricked buying into - judges are important by title alone not because they stop criminals, defendants are automatically in fear of something they haven't done and question their guilt despite it being ambiguous if it's good or bad, and people automatically judge you on what they're told vs. what they believe and abandon any practical thought of their own to the point where strangers can convict someone you've known for quite some time. In the end, you see little is accomplished and people are just following a 9-5 routine uninspired by actual productivity, actual right or wrong, and everyone trapped into the service, not value, mindset.
Interesting to see what others think,but to me, The Trial is a verbatim portrayal of Illich's books.
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4: hauntingly prescient
Kafka depicts a terrifying world, a man lost in a world of utter unintelligibility - it is the horror story of the 20th century, where man has sought to negate both his own intelligibility and that of the world. Kafka pre-empts the regimes of Stalin, Hitler and all the other crazies of the 20th Century.
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5: The Fear, Despondency, and Despair of A Soul.
Behind Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, this is perhaps the greatest book in which the author immerses his reader into the protagonist's soul. The damnable truth of the matter is there is little absurd in Kafka's "absurd" prose. This book grips you in the protagonist's fear, despair, despondency, boldness, and indecisiveness. He can trust no one, and everyone turns out to be his enemy. Just imagine how great the story would be if the author lived to complete it. Alas, maybe it would not be as good at all. Anyway, enjoy this classic tale, and learn how little stands between Kafka's written word, and current day.
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