The Trial cover art

The Trial

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

The Trial

Written by: Franz Kafka
Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $18.09

Buy Now for $18.09

Josef K. is an employee at a bank, an Everyman without any particular qualities or ambitions. His inconsequence makes doubly strange his "arrest" by an officer of the court, made with no formal charges or explanation.

Disoriented and consumed with guilt for a "crime" he does not understand, Josef K. must justify his life to a "court" with which he cannot communicate. The defendant can only ask questions, but receives no answers to clarify the surreal world in which he is compelled to wander.

Through the court's relentless bureaucratic proceedings and absurd juxtapositions of different hypotheses of cause and effect, the whole rational structure of the world is undermined. The trial of Josef K. becomes a chilling existential metaphor for life itself, where every sentence is a sentence of death.

©1998 Schocken Books, Inc. (P)1998 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Alternate History Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

"Howard's British accent and deep monotone set the proper dark tone for the book....Howard acts as our intellectual guide by emphasizing key passages and marking them as worthy of interpretation and discussion." ( AudioFile)
All stars
Most Relevant
A true genius. It should be one of the greatest stories of our age. But it isn’t finished. The author died. One can clearly see how great this book COULD be and it’s current state it is better then most books even attempt. But you should know that this work is unfinished. It is also a translation. The translation is done very well but it lacks some of the brilliance is lost in translation. This book is worth your time and money. But you ought to know it is very rough.
The vocal performance is very well done

A great work of literature...But...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.