I could probably appreciate Franz Kafka’s The Trial if I close my eyes, pretending being back in 1925. The lack of civil rights and legal protection at the time probably was in need of a fictional, surreal account of what it means when the defendant cannot take part in legal proceedings.
Today, such a book is to me just boring, especially since it’s not even drawing up a portrait of the political environment of the past. I need a long break from the classics.
PS: I know that Kafka never intended the book to be published – I doubt its essence would change much even if he had finished all the chapters though.
