Franz Kafka's The Trial follows Josef K., an ordinary bank clerk who is abruptly arrested one morning for a crime that is never named. Though released, he becomes entangled in a vast, inscrutable judicial system whose courts hide in attics and whose laws no one has seen. As K. struggles to prove his innocence—through lawyers, court officials, and a prison chaplain—he descends into a nightmare of bureaucracy, guilt, and powerlessness. His fate grows increasingly inevitable, culminating in his execution "like a dog." Published posthumously in 1925, the novel remains a haunting meditation on alienation, authority, and absurdity.
