The Castle and the Trial

The Castle: Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. As the villagers and the Castle officials block his efforts at every turn, K's consuming quest - quite possibly a self-imposed one - to penetrate the inaccessible heart of the Castle and take its measure is repeatedly frustrated. Kafka once suggested that the would-be surveyor in The Castle is driven by a wish "to get clear about ultimate things," an unrealizable desire that provided the driving force behind all of Kafka's dazzlingly uncanny fictions. The Trial: Written in 1914, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K, a respectable bank officer who is suddenly arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Kafka's nightmare has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers.