The Trial: Foreward

Franz Kafka was in the process of writing his novella, “The Trial” when he died of tuberculosis. He requested that upon his death, all his transcripts be burned. To assure that this would occur, he began burning some transcripts while alive. Fortunately, he did not live long enough to burn all of his unedited work, and his living will was disregarded as something that he most likely meant to burn anyhow.

Many chapters of “The Trial” were salvaged and put together to form what is currently presented as the novella. The order of chapters was not definite, and an editorial agreement stated that the current publication was most likely conjoined in the intended order.

I have inherited some piecemeal remnants of these chapters and have contributed the best of my ability. My chapters are to reflect the physical appearance and structure of his translated work, while attempting to encompass the “Kafka-esque” quality of the story. There is no specific placing for these chapters, they are simply a personal supplementation of Kafka’s “The Trial.”