The Trial

A novel that has become a kind of symbol of Franz Kafka's creativity. Interestingly, Kafka left no hints that would allow one to reconstruct the plot of the novel. The chapters were not numbered and were contained in separate envelopes.... Josef K. is a rational hero amid an absurd society. His unremarkable, even somewhat trivial life went on as usual until he was informed that a trial had been initiated against him...
The absurdity of what is happening to K. terrifies precisely because of its mundane, cold ordinariness, everydayness, and even the strange logic of the horror unfolding upon the protagonist, which he is powerless to resist.
Where is the judge he has never seen? Where is the high court to which he never made it?
He is guilty simply because every person in this life can be guilty of something...
The horrifying and absurdly funny atmosphere of "The Trial" is remarkably captured by Orson Welles in his famous adaptation featuring Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, and Romy Schneider in the leading roles.