Critical Readings of Franz Kafka’s The Trial

Abstract

The Trial (1925) yields to interpretations within and outside the literary circles and the general view has been that the text is obscured. This popular submission has affected scholarly attention on the text, but this does not dissuade critical studies on the text. This study engages critical readings of The Trial, paying attention to the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that have formed the grounds of being for such readings, as well as topical and thematic issues in the text. Thus, this paper answers the question on the techniques of studying The Trial. The recent and less recent works on The Trial respectively give attention to both material and nonmaterial worlds as captured in the text. This study explores the historical, philosophical, and formalistic views on The Trial as captured in various studies. The conclusion is that the knowledge of The Trial as a literary text possible through a close reading, even though several readings have treated it as the author’s commentary on his own society. Such readings take a position that the text offers an interpretation of a certain human society somewhere. Yet some of the critical readings treat the text as art and generate literary discourses from it.