The complete novels : the trial, America, the castle / Franz Kafka ; translated from the German by Willa and Edwin Muir.

This translation originally published: as The Penguin complete novels of Franz Kafka. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.

Translation of: Der Prozess ; Amerika ; Das Schloss.

Originally published together as The Penguin complete novels of Franz Kafka by Penguin, 1983.

The trial -- America -- The castle.

In "America" Karl Rossmann is 'packed off to American by his parents' to experience Oedipal and cultural isolation. Here, ordinary immigrants are also strange, and 'America' is never quite as real as it should be. "Kafka", a Czech writing in German, never acutally visited America; so, as Max Brod commented, 'the innocence of his fantasy gives this book if advanture its peculiar colour.' Both Joseph K in "The Trial" and K in "The Castle" are victims of anonymous governing forces beyond their control. Both are atomised, estranged and rootless citizens decieved by authoritarian power. Whereas Joseph K is relentlessly hunted down for a crime that remains nameless, K ceaselessly attempts to enter the castle and so belong somewhere. Together these novels may be read as powerful allegories of totalitarian government in whatever guise it appears today.