Enter a dark world. (The Trial - Franz Kafka)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	The Trial - Franz Kafka
Date:	15/05/01 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a powerful, surprising writer

Disadvantages: but you will end up very depressed by this book.

A man is accused of a crime, but not told the nature of the crime he has comitted. He must appear in court and defend himself. He struggles to find out what he has done, to get aid, to protect his name, but learns that each step he takes to preserve himself is only increasing his difficulty. The world around him closes in, friends of old seem like potential betrayers and nothing makes sense any more. His one fleeting grasp at love is hopless, and there seems to be no way out of the closing trap.

Kafka himself lived in Easturn Europe during a time when insane systems and incomprehensible rules made anyone a potnetial criminal. The Trial is a portrayal of this confusion, and brings home the fear that injust systems generate. There is no defense against a crime when you cannot even ask what the crime was.

I wept at the end of this book, and looked around me at the world with a sense of dread and gloom heavy on me. It is hard to leave this book behind, or to escape from its foreboding. I think such reading experiences are good for us: Such monstrous systems only mushroom up if allowed to do so, and a little paranoia is no bad thing.

I'm going to take an opportunity to put in a word in Kafka's defense - he is not purely a writer of the drear and the depressing, as reviews here might indicate. He was a melancholy and troubled man, but he was capable of perceiving beauty in the world around him and of describing it magically. I have read a few of his short stories, and while they are quite sureal, they are also breathtaking in their imagery.

If you are studying kafka, can I strongly recomend picking up a copy of Alan Bennet's "Kafka's Dick" as this is very funny and will help you to keep a sense of perspective.

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