Summary of The CastleÂ
A man named “K.” arrives in an unnamed, wintry village. He has been summoned by the castle authorities to work as a surveyor, but it soon becomes clear that this was a bureaucratic error. He is permitted to stay temporarily in the village and work as a school janitor. Throughout the novel, K. tries to arrange a meeting with the elusive castle officials and to make sense of the villagers’ submissive behaviour towards the authorities.
Reasons to read The Castle
“The Castle” is a surreal, dreamlike novel that describes the protagonist’s struggle against bureaucracy and his attempt to gain recognition and acceptance in the closed community of village and castle. The German title “Das Schloss” means both “the castle” and “the lock”. Franz Kafka, born into a Czech Jewish family in Prague, was one of the most influential German-language authors of the 20th century. He is best known for his novels “The Castle” and “The Trial”, and for his novella “The Metamorphosis”. His novels remained unfinished at the time of his death and were published posthumously by his fried Max Brod, despite Kafka’s instructions to destroy them. Kafka’s works are often described as absurd and allegorical, dealing with themes of alienation and oppression by bureaucratic authorities.
Year of publication: 1926
Original title: Das SchloĂź
Setting: Czech Republic
Book set in Czech Republic: The name of the village is not mentioned in the novel. Some believe the castle was inspired by Frýdlant Castle, not too far from Špindlerův Mlýn (Spindlermühle in German), where Kafka began writing “The Castle”. Kafka frequently stayed in Frýdlant during his work as a labour safety inspector. Others point to the village of Siřem (Zürau in German), where Kafka lived for a few months following his diagnosis with tuberculosis. Still others see Prague Castle as the likely source of inspiration for this novel. It is probably a combination of all these.
Nr of pages: 352
