The Trial
A man is arrested and prosecuted by a remote authority, but the nature of his crime is never revealed.
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Also by Franz Kafka
What you might want to know about The Trial
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Senior bank clerk Josef K. wakes on the morning of his thirtieth birthday to find two strange men in his Prague boardinghouse, telling him he is under arrest. Across a year of pointless court hearings in attic offices and meetings with a lawyer, Josef tries to learn the charge against him.
Yes. The Trial was published posthumously in 1925 and is in the public domain in many jurisdictions. Free editions of older translations are available legally through Project Gutenberg.
No. Franz Kafka left The Trial unfinished at his death in 1924. Max Brod assembled the chapters from manuscripts, against Kafka's wishes that they be destroyed. The order of some chapters has been debated by scholars.
The Trial was written by Franz Kafka, published in 1825 by Sterling.
The Trial is 269 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Trial takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
The Trial is a standalone novel by Franz Kafka, not part of a series.
The Trial is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
