The Castle by Franz Kafka
This novel presents the story of a man who arrives in a village and struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern it from a castle. The protagonist, a surveyor, faces the constant frustration of his efforts to make contact with the elusive authorities and integrate into village society. The book explores themes of alienation, bureaucracy, the seemingly endless frustrations of man's attempts to stand against the system, and the futile pursuit of an unobtainable goal.
The 127th greatest book of all time
- Published
- 1926
- Nationality
- Czech
- Type
- Fiction
- Pages
- 200-300
- Words
- 98,000
- Original Language
- German
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This book is on the following lists:
- 6th on The 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century (Folha de São Paulo)
- 6th on Biblioteca (Argentina)
- 13th on El Pais Favorite Books of 100 Spanish Authors (El Pais)
- 49th on In Which These Are the 100 Greatest Novels (ThisRecording.com)
- 54th on 100 Books of Classical and Modern Foreign Literature (The Union of Russian Writers)
- 97th on The 500 best books of all time from Culture Café users (Culture Café)
- 153rd on The Complete 500: OCLC (OCLC)
- 555th on Our Users' Favorite Books of All Time (The Greatest Books Users)
- 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (The Guardian)
- Books of the Century (The Age (Newspaper))
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
- Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century (Wikipedia)
- ZEIT-Bibliothek der 100 Bücher (Die Zeit)
- The New Lifetime Reading Plan (The New Lifetime Reading Plan)
- Masterpieces of World Literature (Frank N. Magill)
- Finest Works of Fiction (Martin Seymour-Smith and Editors)
- Top 100 Works in World Literature (Norwegian Book Clubs, with the Norwegian Nobel Institute)
- Harold Bloom's The Western Canon (The Western Canon (Book) by Harold Bloom)