A novel that has become a defining symbol of Franz Kafka’s body of work. Interestingly, Kafka left no clues that might allow one to reconstruct the novel's plot; the chapters were unnumbered and kept in separate envelopes. Josef K. is a rational protagonist set against an absurd society. His unremarkable—even somewhat banal—life was proceeding as usual until he was informed that proceedings had been initiated against him... The absurdity of K.’s situation is frightening precisely because of its grounded, cold ordinariness—the sheer mundanity and even the strange logic of the horror unfolding around him, a horror he is powerless to resist.