Name: The Trial
Author: Franz Kafka

How you explore The Trial on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 32 characters, 11 places, 12 objects and 6 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 42 passages of The Trial sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Franz Kafka wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on Franz Kafka instead.

9:41

The Cast

Josef K.

Main · The Bank

A successful bank officer wakes to an arrest that no one will explain.

Locations

Josef K.'s boarding house

boarding house

The room where he pays his rent is where the law comes to arrest him.

Passage

Arrested without cause, Josef K. faces the terrifying logic of unexplained accusation.

Read →

The Author’s Pen

Josef K. Is Arrested

Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested. Every day at eight in the morning he was brought his breakfast by Mrs. Grubach's cook--Mrs. Grubach was his landlady--but today she didn't come. That had never happened before. K. waited a little while, looked from his pillow at the old woman who lived opposite and who was watching him with an inquisitiveness quite unusual for her, and finally, both hungry and disconcerted, rang the bell. There was immediately a knock at the door and a man entered. He had never seen the man in this house before. He was slim but firmly built, his clothes were black and close-fitting, with many folds and pockets, buckles and buttons and a belt, all of which gave the impression of being very practical but without making it very clear what they were actually for.

Reading

Josef K. is sure of his own innocence before we even know what he is accused of, and that certainty is exactly what should worry us. He assumes the trouble is a lie someone told, a mistake that will sort itself out, and so he keeps thinking in the small terms of a disrupted routine: the cook is late, breakfast has not come, this has never happened before. A man whose whole morning collapses because his breakfast fails to arrive is not equipped for what is coming. Notice too that the arrest reaches him through the ordinary machinery of his lodging house, and that the neighbor across the way is already watching, as if his humiliation were public before he grasped it himself.

World Index

The Plot

The ArrestThe Court AppearsThe Court InvadesThe Advocate and LeniTitorelli and BlockThe Cathedral and the End

The Cast

Josef K.The CourtDr. HuldLeniTitorelliBlockThe PriestMiss BürstnerMrs. GrubachUncle KarlFranzWillemThe SupervisorExamining MagistrateCourt UsherUsher's WifeBertoldThe ManufacturerDeputy DirectorBank ManagerThe Two ExecutionersRabensteinerKullichKaminerOld Neighbors Across the StreetGirls Outside Titorelli's StudioMinor Court ServantsWhip-manMiss MontagCaptain LanzElsaErna

Locations

Attic court officesDr. Huld's sickroom and houseJosef K.'s boarding houseJosef K.'s roomMiss Bürstner's roomMrs. Grubach's living roomTenement courtroomThe BankThe CathedralThe QuarryTitorelli's studio

Objects of Note

Arrest warrantBlack suitBreakfastCathedral lampCourt filesEntrance to the Court Offices signIdentity papersKnifeMiss Bürstner's photographsTitorelli's paintingsWhipWhite blouse

Core Concepts

Bureaucracy as an Endless LabyrinthGuilt Without a ChargeThe Accused Are Reduced to DependentsThe Complicity of the Watching WorldThe Court Invades Ordinary LifeThe False Hope of AcquittalThe Unknowable Law

The Author's Pen

Under Arrest and WaitingIgnorance of the LawIdentity Documents RejectedArrest Without AnswersThe Stranger Opens The DoorNot Arrested Like A ThiefMoving The Table AwayA Fist on the DeskThe Purpose of the OrganisationK Accuses the Whole RoomNo Session TodayEntrance to the Court OfficesGetting Used to the AirThe Meeting Deemed UnnecessaryBehind the Junk Room DoorThe Complaint and the CaneTrying to Buy Their FreedomTaken To Dr. HuldAt the Lawyer's DoorK. Stares at the GirlYou Could Forbid MeTitorelli the PainterInherited Secrets of the CourtThree Kinds of AcquittalInnocence Needs No HelpAbsolute and Apparent AcquittalThe Arrest ReturnsCourt Offices EverywhereThe Accused Are AttractiveFive Years on TrialLearned but Saying NothingSummoned at a Bad TimeBlock Kneels Beside the BedThe Priest Calls Josef KThe Doorkeeper's FearBefore the LawK Gives UpThe Men Come For KA Unit Of Lifeless MatterNo Point In ResistanceThe Shame Outlives Him

Plot point 01

The Arrest

Josef K. wakes on his thirtieth birthday to find himself under arrest by warders who cannot say what he has done.

Objects of Note

Identity papers

Arrested without explanation, K. reaches for his papers, sure they will fix everything.

The Cast

The Court

Main

An unseen institution reaches K. through rooms, officers, documents, rumors, and final agents.

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The Trial

Franz Kafka

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The Trial feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of The Trial

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Arrest
The Court Appears
The Court Invades
The Advocate and Leni
Titorelli and Block
The Cathedral and the End

The author's pen in The Trial

The passages themselves, Franz Kafka's own words, as Literah maps it.

Josef K. Is Arrestedch. 1
Under Arrest and Waitingch. 1
Ignorance of the Lawch. 1
Identity Documents Rejectedch. 1
Arrest Without Answersch. 1
The Stranger Opens The Doorch. 1
Not Arrested Like A Thiefch. 1
Moving The Table Awaych. 1
A Fist on the Deskch. 2
The Purpose of the Organisationch. 2
K Accuses the Whole Roomch. 2
No Session Todaych. 3
Entrance to the Court Officesch. 3
Getting Used to the Airch. 3
The Meeting Deemed Unnecessarych. 4
Behind the Junk Room Doorch. 5
The Complaint and the Canech. 5
Trying to Buy Their Freedomch. 5
Taken To Dr. Huldch. 6
At the Lawyer's Doorch. 6

The characters of The Trial

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Josef K.major
The Courtmajor
Dr. Huldmajor
Lenimajor
Titorellimajor
Blockmajor
The Priestmajor
Miss Bürstnersupporting
Mrs. Grubachsupporting
Uncle Karlsupporting
Franzsupporting
Willemsupporting
The Supervisorsupporting
Examining Magistratesupporting
Court Ushersupporting
Usher's Wifesupporting

The locations in The Trial

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

Josef K.'s boarding houseboarding house
Josef K.'s roombedroom
Mrs. Grubach's living roomliving room
Miss Bürstner's roombedroom
The Bankworkplace
Tenement courtroomcourtroom
Attic court officescourt offices
Dr. Huld's sickroom and houselawyer's house
Titorelli's studiostudio
The Cathedralcathedral
The Quarryquarry

The core concepts in The Trial

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Guilt Without a Charge
The Unknowable Law
Bureaucracy as an Endless Labyrinth
The Court Invades Ordinary Life
The False Hope of Acquittal
The Accused Are Reduced to Dependents
The Complicity of the Watching World

The objects of note in The Trial

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Identity papers
Black suit
Arrest warrant
Breakfast
Miss Bürstner's photographs
White blouse
Entrance to the Court Offices sign
Court files
Whip
Titorelli's paintings
Cathedral lamp
Knife

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How you explore The Trial on Literah

The plot of The Trial

The author's pen in The Trial

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The locations in The Trial

The core concepts in The Trial

The objects of note in The Trial

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