The Trial
by Franz Kafka (1925)
I’m still collecting my thoughts on one of my favorite books this year, Albert Camus’ The Stranger (and hopefully I’ll post them sometime next week), but in the meantime, it might be appropriate to comment on The Trial by Franz Kafka – one of the earliest pieces of absurdist literature. And this book certainly fit the bill – there was no shortage of odd and sometimes creepy situations for the main character, Joseph K. (referred to as K. throughout the book).
While The Trial does hold its rightful place in absurdist fiction, I argue it’s also a great authoritarian novel as well. George Orwell’s 1984 may be the quintessential work of that genre, but The Trial tends to focus less so on the large-scale dystopian/totalitarian society in 1984, and places more emphasis on the asymmetric/authoritarian relationship between K. and the Court that is accusing him. And it’s this Court that he is consistently trying to understand.
Even though this book is certainly dense in some parts (I’m suddenly reminded that K. goes on a 16-page internal tirade against his accusers and the systems that allow it), the ending chapter seems to occur fairly abruptly. The main plot cedes, but there are some loose ends. Throughout the book, K. has riveting conversations with other characters such as his lawyer, a whipper, a painter, a tradesman, and lastly a preacher (side note: a great parallel to The Stranger), but there really seems to be no convergence or closure of these side character plot lines.
However, these issues are likely there because Kafka never actually finished this book, and it wasn’t even published until after his death. It certainly doesn’t ruin the experience, just leaves you wanting a bit more. But even though we will never have the full book, The Trial is 100% worth the read.