The Trial

Kafka's chilling and darkly entertaining exploration of life's absurdity, now in Penguin Clothbound Classics

A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.

This is a stunning new Clothbound Classics edition of Kafka's major novel, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith and translated by Idris Parry. These delectable and collectible Penguin editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.

About the Author

Franz Kafka (Author)
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born of Jewish parents in Prague. Several of his story collections were published in his lifetime and his novels, The Trial, The Castle and Amerika, were published posthumously by his editor Max Brod.

Idris Parry (Translator)
Idris Parry was born in Wales in 1916. After war service he became a university teacher at Bangor, moving in 1963 to Manchester, where he was Professor of Modern German Literature, until he retired in 1977. Parry passed away in 2008.