The Trial

A brilliant translation of one of the greatest works of Franz Kafka, author of Metamorphosis, telling the haunting story of a man's desperate search for answers amid his prosecution for an unknown crime

A Penguin Classic

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.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a Czech-born, German-speaking author of some of the most important literature of the twentieth century, including Metamorphosis (1912), The Trial (1925), and Amerika (1927). 

Idris Parry (translation and introduction; 1916–2008) was a professor and scholar of modern German literature at the University of Manchester.