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.
