I have a special connection to F. Kafka; he is certainly one of the authors whose works I have read the most, and whose themes have had a particularly resonate with me. The absurdity of bureaucracy in "The Castle" (although the critique of bureaucracy by our politics/society is at times too caricatured, as Max Weber has demonstrated), the relationship with family in "The Metamorphosis" and "Letter to the Father", or, here, the arbitrariness of justice in "The Trial".
By the way, the idea that the majority of these works would have been burned had his friend not published them against the author's wishes is actually pretty funny. In any case, The Trial (or "Le procès" in French) plunges us into the life of Josef K., a senior bank officer who wakes up one morning to learn—through two men who have burst into his bedroom—that judicial proceedings have been initiated against him. Throughout the story, the main stakes involve finding out what Josef K. is actually accused of (since he himself doesn't know) and trying to clear his name. Across its 300 pages, the work thus immerses us in a murky and mysterious judicial system about which the accused knows nothing, and about which it proves difficult to learn anything more.
By the way, I’ll take the opportunity of this text to recommend an interview with Geoffroy de Lagasnerie titled "Se méfier de Kafka" ("Be Wary of Kafka"). It offers a solid analysis of the risks involved in building a political critique of judicial and bureaucratic institutions by relying too heavily on Kafka's works (though he strongly insists that Kafka is still a must-read!).
I would also like to point out that I would advise a reader who has never read any of Kafka's works not to start with The Trial, but rather with The Metamorphosis (which I will discuss later). The Metamorphosis is a much more digestible read, yet still of exceptional quality (I won't say too much now so I can dive deeper into it when the time comes!).
