/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19193516]

I am a little confused about Kafka's "The Trial." The main themes about the futility of independent action, the inefficiencies and dangers of bureaucracy, and loss of control are plain enough. But many parts of the book felt as if they were simply an unrelated attachment. Fraulein Bürstner, for instance, played a significant part in it, but I can't tell why she was necessary. The Court itself was very obviously omnipresent or supernatural in some sense, but this was never really solidified. And quite a few times there were odd tangential moments during which K acted like a womanizer which felt completely out of place. Are these just the results of the novel never actually being finished, or am I missing something here?

[Anonymous No.19193526]

>main themes
To me they seemed to be unearned trust in authority. K. never really bothers to even find out what he's accused of, he just goes along because he assumes the court has a good reason to harass him, and ultimately accepts his fate believing himself to be a criminal who deserves punishment

[Anonymous No.19193535]

Yea its a very obviously unfinished book and its disappointing that other anons just chalk off the unsolidified parts as "HIS STYLE".
Not a horrible book but wayyy overrated imo.

[Anonymous No.19193570]

Here's my interpretation.

Being alive feels like I am Josef K. This world feels like giant court where all people talk about omnipresent authority but I don't see his anywhere. I went to visit knowledge and he pointed me towards innumerable ideas and interpretations. People with big degrees feels like they know how to play to game and but they don't tell big news to anyone. Every breadth that I take screams guilty. I am guilty of an unknowable crime maybe that crime was being born? I don't know and I will or will not know it. I will die like a dog, without never getting what it was all about with unanswered questions in my mind in the last seconds when I will close my eyes and will never open again just like Josef K.

[Anonymous No.19193572]

>>19193526
I didn't get that impression at all really. To me it seemed more like a resignation to the inevitable than an acceptance of authority. K never stopped maintaining his innocence, and he rejected the workings of the Court such as the interrogations or the system of lawyers until the very end. But he saw what lasting trials did to those like Block or the other accused men, and felt his own psyche weakening, so he just gave up. That's my take anyway.
>>19193535
The only other work of his I read was the Metamorphosis, and that was a long time ago, so I can't speak to that. But my version of The Trial contains all of the unfinished chapters and removed paragraphs, and there are so many that it's quite clear that Kafka had more to say.

[Anonymous No.19193591]

>>19193570
>being alive feels like I'm Josef K
I'm sure this was a big part of it for Kafka as well. It's doubtful that he had multiple stories where the protagonist's name was derivative of his own for no reason.

[Anonymous No.19193596]

>>19193572
I'd have to reread the book, but it always struck me as senseless to loudly proclaim your innocence in the face of a crime you have no knowledge about. By insisting on his innocence he implicitely accepts that it's a matter of the court figuring out whether infact he is innocent or not. He doesn't know what he's innocent of, and doesn't care to inquire it (admittedly due in large parts to the hostile and confusing attitude of everyone working for the court). But by proclaiming his innocence, atleast imo, he accepts that some crime has been committed under the assumption that the court is not merely cruel but somewhat justified in arresting him.

[Anonymous No.19193616]

>>19193591
Yeah I know
For me Kafka's work is solely based on pessimistic existential matters with no escape. If you analyse them like that everything will start making sense.

You can also interpret Josef K's crime as a signifier for Christian idea that we're all sinner due to the Original sin.

[Anonymous No.19193625]

>>19193591
He did have massive issues with his controlling father. I think he wrote about that in letters

[Anonymous No.19193675]

>>19193596
I can see how that could be successfully argued.
To me, however, it felt like his proclamation of innocence was much more about his refusal to play the Court's game. K always struck me as a rather self-assured person, even to the point of arrogance, and he often defied the normalities of the court due to it. I think the rub is that his defiance lead to the court simply checking him off their list and processing him quickly, instead of causing something major. He was independent and headstrong and got killed for it.

[Anonymous No.19193685]

>>19193516
The main theme of all of kafka's work is being terrified of his father.

[Anonymous No.19193697]

I forgot to to mention this in the OP.
Does anyone else think that living under the Dual-Monarchy for most of his life probably influenced him to write a book about an inefficient, gargantuan bureaucracy?

[Anonymous No.19193741]

>>19193535
damn i didnt know a version like that existed. thats so cool. what version is it?

[Anonymous No.19193786]

Book is fucking retarded. Read the first two chapters thinking, "Why is this dumb asshole just sitting here taking this? I would have told the two policemen that morning to run their tongues up the crack of my ass after a hefty shit if they weren't going to tell me what the charge was."

[Anonymous No.19193789]

>>19193786
Kafka experience existential horror at the notion of arbitrary power.

[Anonymous No.19193848]

>>19193786
>This book sucks because the fictional characters don't act exactly like I do. Why don't they just do what I would do in any given situation?
You are profoundly retarded, so much so that you are completely incapable of ever realizing it. This is serious, unironic mental illness but it's so common that it just isn't diagnosed anymore.

[Anonymous No.19193906]

>>19193741
If you're asking about the version with the extra content, it's the one with a foreword by George Steiner

[Anonymous No.19193980]

>>19193786
what a kafkaesque post

[Anonymous No.19194102]

Would a more poignant ending for the book than what there is be K getting totally acquitted, only to wake up the next day and have a new case against him?

[Anonymous No.19194116]

>>19194102
the ending to the book is perfect and probably what redeems the entire thing. Read The Trial in hs and not really a month goes by where i don't think about the ending

[Anonymous No.19194141]

>>19193848
>This book sucks because the fictional characters don't act like anyone normal, not even within the stated time period.

FTFY. Your book sucks, asshole.

[Anonymous No.19194291]

>>19193786
Did you even read the first page? The main character declares to the people arresting him that they have no authority to do so and demands to know what the charges are, then when they don't tell him he simply leaves and goes to work. In fact, he tells an entire crowd of officials to fuck off later on in the story. Not to mention, any man would be surprised if they woke up to find three strange men claiming to be with the law, who also seem to have kidnapped three of his co-workers, standing in his room. Plus, even in the real world police arrest people all the time without telling them why. It's not unrealistic in the slightest.

[Anonymous No.19194738]

>>19194141
>Noooo things in this surrealist nightmare aren't normal
I feel genuine pity that people like you are burdened with existence

[Anonymous No.19194834]

Come to think of it, perhaps the parable that the priest told K was actually the solution to his problems. The country man in it wanted to enter the Law but was held up by the lowest of doormen, who told him he couldn't enter and warned of much greater doormen than himself later on. In much the same way, K met petty lawyers and officials who sought to impede him and warned of the mythical nature of the higher ups in the Court. Maybe if he had just plowed through them and demanded answers, he would have been saved with ease.

[Anonymous No.19195342]

>>19193516
The two main things people tend to miss about The Trial are 1: it's unfinished; 2: it's a comedy.