The
Trial (Kafka's original German title: Der Process, later as Der
Prozess and Der Prozeß) is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in
1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man
arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the
nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader. Like Kafka's
other novels, The Trial was never completed, although it does include a
chapter which brings the story to an end. Because of this there are
certain inconsistencies which exist within the novel, such as
disparities in timing in addition to other flaws in narration. After
Kafka's death in 1924, his friend and literary executor Max Brod edited
the text for publication.