The Trial

Waking up the day before his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., an ordinary bank clerk, learns that he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit—a crime whose nature he is never told. After his arrest, they release him, but he must regularly appear in court. As he grows increasingly uncertain about his future, his personal life—including his job at the bank, his relationship with the landlady, and the young woman living next door—becomes even more unpredictable. And the more Josef tries to take control of the situation, the faster he is swept into the whirlpool of an irrational, absurd, and vaguely defined judicial-bureaucratic system.