The Castle

Franz Kafka (1883—1924) is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, a classic of German literature and a key figure of modernism. His prose is recognizable for its terrifyingly clear style, where the utmost precision of language combines with an atmosphere of anxiety, absurdity, and alienation. Kafka reinterprets fundamental questions of human existence in new forms—guilt, power, helplessness, loneliness, and the opacity of complex systems. His texts, despite their external simplicity, reveal deep psychological and philosophical layers, and the situations he created have become iconic: 'Kafkaesque' now signifies a clash between humans and irrational, incomprehensible forces.

On a winter evening, land surveyor K. arrives in a snowbound village at the foot of a mountain where a castle stands. The villagers, and then K. himself, find themselves under the mysterious influence of the castle and its diligent officials, who remain elusive and incomprehensible. K. faces a world that is unreachable, locked within a bureaucratic apparatus. But to settle in the village, K. needs official permission from the castle office, yet what is needed by the castle?..