قصة الكتاب :
The Trial is a novel written by German author, Franz Kafka between 1914 and 1915 and published in 1925 posthumously. Like all his other books, The Trial appears to be incomplete. However, there is an addition of a chapter that appears to bring the story to an abrupt ending. The original book was written in German and titled Der Process. The manuscript of the original is kept at the Museum of Modern Literature in Germany. In 1999, the book was listed in Le Monde’s 100 books of the century and in the Best German novels of the twentieth century. There have been several stage and film adaptations of the book.\r\n
\r\nThe protagonist is Josef K., a man who is arrested and prosecuted by a remote authority for a crime, which he isn’t aware of. The nature of the crime remains elusive to the reader as well. The story is one that resonates even with today’s readers. It is a reflection of what results when the excesses of modern bureaucracy meet the madness of totalitarianism. This is considered one of Kafka’s most pessimistic works and has become synonymous with the anxieties and sense of alienation that characterize the modern age. It also details an ordinary person’s struggle against an inaccessible and unreasonable authority. In the novel, K. is arrested on the morning of his thirtieth birthday and killed on the same day the following year. The book tells the story of the year in between these two events and the struggles K. faces as he deals with an invisible law and an untouchable court. Although Kafka’s tale is a satirical take on the prevailing bureaucracy in his time, it has ended up being the story of the process that would be followed by several, worse totalitarian regimes that would enter the history timelines later. The original German title of the book can be translated to mean “The Trial” or “The Process”, both representative of the situation. The conclusion leaves the reader with a sense of inevitability, where the process that has been set into motion will see its end. \r\n
\r\nThe Trial can be a deeply unsettling book as it describes a world where people are constantly watched by the authorities and arrested if deemed guilty of crimes, even ones they haven’t committed. The situation is reflective of the turmoil that faced Europe at the time Kafka wrote the story. His tales are a reflection of the many obstacles to progress that faced society in his time. The manner in which Kafka wrote gave a sense of the ‘unreal’ and yet by doing this he succeeds in making the readers lower their guard and be confronted afresh with the social injustices that they have gotten used to. \r\n