I read it two days ago. I definitely liked it however I'd honestly only give it 8/10. Something about the work just makes me feel claustrophobic particularly with the copious descriptions of the court and offices.
Is there any translation aside from the muir which is good?
I loved the 'ending' and the dog scene though.

An all time favorite. You will enjoy it much more on your second read.

I think the opening line: Someone must have slandered Josef K (...)
lays it all on the table for you. While I think it's best to avoid rigid allegory when talking about Kafka I think there is definitely an element of equality between K. and the courts in this book, whether that's to mean the courts are tipped off by his peers, run by his equals, or only in the sense that even the highest member of the highest order of high court is still a man - perhaps a dog - like K.

>>7398695
> Something about the work just makes me feel claustrophobic particularly with the copious descriptions of the court and offices.
Agreed.

> Is there any translation aside from the muir which is good?
I read czech translation which seemed to be good. I especially liked very long sentences.

> I loved the 'ending' and the dog scene though.

Why was he executed?


I'd also give it 8/10.

>>7398715
>Why was he executed?
For his crime obviously.

>>7398715
>Why was he executed?
I thought it was just a way for kafka to abruptly end the novel and prevent further despair on the part of the reader. I'm not entirely sure that you're supposed to read too deeply into it.

>>7398725
I don't see how this is a question. His trial was completed and he was sentenced to death.

>>7398695
>>7398715
The claustrophobia a combination of Kafka's lexical choice (which has been translated well in many editons) and the way he paragraphs. They're long, you can't take breaks and they feel like a chore to get through especially when you decrease your reading speed as a result of the slowed actions of Josef

>>7398725
>>7398729
>>7398720

Well, then, what were those crimes? I read in the analysis by Pavel Eisner several interpretations, like that it was allegory to his Jew background that haunted him during his life, or that it's allegory to "clean life" Joseph. K, while seemingly honest person, didn't live.

Amerika and The Trial are leagues better than The Castle

>>7398740
top pleb

>>7398737
>Well, then, what were those crimes?
This should not, does not have an answer.

>>7398737
I believe that the point is there weren't any discernable crimes. Kafka intended to show a tyranny of the state and also the corruption of human institutions with an initially pure purpose, not by outside factors but by the people.

You may disagree but given the historical context it seems the most likely interpretation

>>7398750
>Kafka intended to show a tyranny of the state
No way
this you've picked up from pop culture osmosis
you've confused 1984, you've confused brazil, you've confused everything called kafkaesque with kafka

>>7398742
Offer an argument, or shut the fuck up. This is a response a lowbrow pleb pretending to be a highbrow, middlebrow, whogivesashitbrow, would give if they didn't actually know what the fuck they were talking about.

>>7398757
So you don't think the legal system is an extension of the state?

>>7398750
I think The Trial was more aimed to illustrate the absurdity of existence and depict how helpless you are over controlling your own life. Because you can just wake up one morning and confusedly find yourself in the main character's shoes, and have the exact same outcome happen.

>>7398790
Absolutely not. I would also not call The Trial's courts namely 'tyrannical'

It seems better labeled as flawed, or maybe, just beyond our comprehension
Nothing about it shows oppressive intent
At worst I see the selfishness of individuals corrupting a system

But The Trial is much more surreal and subconscious than a political parallel

>>7398737
read the book for my German class a few weeks ago. It can be interpreted in many ways, depending on which interpretation you choose the crime is a different, but it is mostly said to be an internal issue of the protagonist. Not an actual crime.
You can read about Kafka struggling with these things aswell in some letters he wrote.

>>7398750
This interpretation feels very shallow. The Trial is, imo, too weird, too confusing and too abstract to be merely an attack on concrete institutions.

>>7398750
Good god, could you be more of a myopic, kafkaesque pleb

>>7398750
The court system that K has to deal with is anything but tyraniccal. Shit, if anything, K's plight would've been helped if the court had bullied him around more - he probably would have had more of an idea of what he was accused of.

I guess I'll think more about the Before the Law parable and how it relates to the trial. The parable and following Ks discussion with priest was very interesting, but I couldn't conclude anything from yet.

>>7398750
The thing is K. is the arrogant shit who ruins his own chances with the case

Tyranny has nothing to do with it. I'd wager there is no """""""""meaning"""""""""
It is straight surrealism from the mind of a literature loving lawyer

I don't think this means you shouldn't look for links and "meanings" within the text but I do not think it was written with any one purpose, as I feel with most surrealist pieces, if surrealism is good, it should tap into something essential we can 'understand' without understanding why

>>7400752
this.
K. also was behaving like an ass with woman.