The Trial

A modern classic of psychological horror and political paranoia, The Trial is one of Kafka’s best-known works.
Josef K. is an ordinary banker whose life changes overnight when he is arrested for a crime no one will identify to him. He is forced to navigate a bewildering court system filled with endless hearings and controlled by a distant authoritarian power. As K. struggles to defend himself against accusations he cannot understand, his work, relationships, and grip on reality begin to deteriorate. Though left unfinished at the time of Kafka’s death, The Trial remains one of literature’s most powerful portraits of life under authoritarian power.