1956 THE TRIAL Franz Kafka Modern Library HCDJ #318

This is a hardcover edition of Franz Kafka's THE TRIAL published by Modern Library in 1956. The dust jacket shows minor wear, and it is in a clear archival wrapper for protection. The Modern Library catalog is printed on the back of the dust jacket and is visible through the wrapper. The original list price is printed on the inside flap for $2.45. The boards and interior pages are in excellent condition and do not show any obvious signs of inscriptions, marginalization, or dog-eared pages. We discussed Kafka in my college existentialism classes, they were required as part of my philosophy major. Franz Kafka is regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature, and because his works had philosophical themes they were studied in my major. THE TRIAL, perhaps Kafka's most pessimistic work, is an existential story of a young man who finds himself caught up in the mindless bureaucracy of the law.  Kafka's works were banned in his home city of Prague under different regimes after his death. They were considered too “decadent” or “despairing”. The ban on his literature was eventually lifted in 1989. Indiana University chose to teach his work because it was relevent to their existentialism classes, because it explored philosophical themes such as the individual's relationship with authority, the nature of bureaucracy, and the absurdity of existence.