Dimensions
131 x 199 x 28mm
'The Trial' - 'America' - 'The Castle'
In 'America' Karl Rossman is packed off to America by his parents to experience Oedipal and cultural isolation. Here, ordinary immigrants are also strange, and 'America' is never quite as real as it seems. Kafka, a Czech Jew writing in German, never actually visited America; so as Max Brod commented, "The innocence of his fantasy gives this book of adventure its peculiar colour".
Both Joseph K in 'The Trial' and K in 'the Castle' are victims of anonymous governing forces beyond their control. Both are atomised, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power. Whereas Joseph K is relentlessly hunted down for a crime that remains nameless, K ceaselessly attempts to enter the castle and so belong somewhere. Together these novels may be read as powerful allegories of totalitarian government in whatever guise it appears today.
