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by: Franz Kafka  List Price: $13.00 Amazon.com's Price: $10.40 You Save: $2.60 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 833.912 EAN: 9780805209990 ISBN: 0805209999 Label: Schocken Manufacturer: Schocken Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: May 25, 1999 Publisher: Schocken Release Date: May 25, 1999 Studio: Schocken Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: The story of The Trial's publication is almost as fascinating as the novel itself. Kafka intended his parable of alienation in a mysterious bureaucracy to be burned, along with the rest of his diaries and manuscripts, after his death in 1924. Yet his friend Max Brod pressed forward to prepare The Trial and the rest of his papers for publication. When the Nazis came to power, publication of Jewish writers such as Kafka was forbidden; Kafka's writings, many of which have distinctively Jewish themes, did not find a broad audience until after World War II. (Hannah Arendt once observed that although "during his lifetime he could not make a decent living, [Kafka] will now keep generations of intellectuals both gainfully employed and well-fed.") Among the current crop of Kafka heirs is Breon Mitchell, the translator of this edition of The Trial. Rather than tidying up Kafka's unconventional grammar and punctuation (as previous translators have done), Mitchell captures the loose, uneasy, even uncomfortable constructions of Kafka's original story. His translation technique is the only way to convey the comedy and confusion of this narrative, in which Josef K., "without having done anything truly wrong," is arrested, tried, convicted and executed--on a charge that is never disclosed to him. --Michael Joseph Gross Product Description: Written in 1914, The Trial is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century: the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, Kafka's nightmare has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers. This new edition is based upon the work of an international team of experts who have restored the text, the sequence of chapters, and their division to create a version that is as close as possible to the way the author left it. In his brilliant translation, Breon Mitchell masterfully reproduces the distinctive poetics of Kafka's prose, revealing a novel that is as full of energy and power as it was when it was first written. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - a classsic that i did not enjoy but did find interestingit is well written but the whole story made me increasingly tense and anxious, as well it should. this was not a book that was fun or pleasurable to read. but it was extremely interesting. Rating:  - One of the most important writers of the 20th centuryOne morning Joseph K. is arrested. It is never made clear what the charges are, but K. always maintains his innocence, as he grapples with a bureaucracy that slowly strangles his career and consumes his life. Franz Kafka's 'The Trial' was published posthumously shortly after his death. It was never completely finished and it was unclear how the chapters were to be ordered. It is no surprise then that the plot is somewhat episodic. I had expected the story to be a dystopian nightmare, instead ... Read More Rating:  - What a wonderful nightmare!The Trial is like falling asleep into a splendid deleterious nightmare, with all of the dread and Angst, and never being quite able to find the code to lead oneself out of the intricately spun labyrinth. It surely will be a joy for those capable of opening up to Kafka's complex existential world. It is said that Kafka laughed obstreperously while reading this book. I tried to laugh along with him, but I believe there are a myriad of other approaches to this novella that are just as appropriate. I recommend ... Read More Rating: - Was it really an unfinished business????Block, the painter, and Leni among others, are strangers who understand the complications of Joseph K's case as well as the details of court operations. The story exist in a state of total chaos, characters come and go for no clear reason, out of the blue, women go crazy over Joseph and then changing on him for no reason, People show concern for him and then become completely indifferent to his plight and an accusation , that he doesn't understand, is made. Joseph doesn't know if it's a crazy nightmare or ... Read More Rating: - great thinker, creative writerThe metaphors and symbolism in this book are so liberating, ironically however, to speak about the oppression of totalitarianism in his time. 
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