The Trial Introduction by George Steiner

The story of the mysterious indictment, trial, and reckoning forced upon Joseph K. in Franz Kafka's The Trial is one of the twentieth century's master parables, reflecting the central spiritual crises of modern life. Kafka's methodone that has influenced, in some way, almost every writer of substance who followed himwas to render the absurd and the terrifying convincing by a scrupulous, hyperreal matter-of-factness of tone and treatment. He thereby imparted to his work a level of seriousness normally associated with civilization's most cherished poems and religious texts. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

Breon Mitchell has received the ATA German Literary Prize, among other translation awards. He is a professor of Germanic studies and comparative literature at Indiana University.<br><br><br><i>From the Trade Paperback edition.</i>