The Trial: Measuring Microwave Materials in Free Space: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Serie

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'Someone must have been telling tales about Josef K. for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested.'A successful professional man wakes up one morning to find himself under arrest for an offence which is never explained. The mysterious court which conducts his trial is outwardly co-operative, but capable of horrific violence. Faced with this ambiguous authority, Josef K. gradually succumbs to its psychological pressure. He consults various advisers without escaping his fate. Was there some way out that he failed to see? Kafka's unfinished novel has been read as a study of political power, apessimistic religious parable, or a crime novel where the accused man is himself the problem.One of the iconic figures of modern world literature, Kafka writes about universal problems of guilt, responsibility, and freedom; he offers no solutions, but provokes his readers to arrive at meanings of their own. This new edition includes the fragmentary chapters that were omitted from the main text, in a translation that is both natural and exact, and an introduction that illuminates the novel and its author. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) A German-speaking insurance clerk, Franz Kafka preferred to spend his time writing. One of the most important writers of the Modernist period, Kafka's writings went against the conventions of his time. His works are notable for the aspects of the absurd, the surreal, and the fantastic. Although he incorporates elements of realism in his writing, many of his texts and protagonists engage with the loss of all coherent structures and meanings. It is common for the character to come across as an alienated individual, almost shunned from society. Over the years, his writing style has developed an identity of its own and is, today, widely known as 'Kafkaesque'. Kafka never intended to publish his works. In fact, he had ordered his friend to burn all of his unpublished works after his death. However, his friend published these works posthumously. Kafka's best-known works include The Trial, Metamorphosis, and The Castle. Kafka's works, more often than not, show a bleak and hopeless world where a just society and governance is more a matter of imagination than reality. He compels his readers to question the monotony of the systems around them, and the structures of authority.

“‘[I]t seemed as though the shame was to outlive him.’ With these words The Trial ends. Kafka’s shame then is no more personal than the life and thought which govern it and which he describes thus: ‘He does not live for the sake of his own life, he does not think for the sake of his own thought. He feels as though he were living and thinking under the constraint of a family . . . Because of this unknown family . . . he cannot be released.’”
—Walter Benjamin
 
“Breon Mitchell’s translation is an accomplishment of the highest order that will honor Kafka far into the twenty-first century.”
—Walter Abish, author of How German Is It