The Castle

Kafka's last great, unfinished novel - the book that hangs over the whole modern era like a nightmare. With a new introduction and notes by John Zilcosky The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.

'K. kept feeling that he had lost himself, or was further away in a strange land than anyone had ever been before' A remote village covered almost permanently in snow and dominated by a castle and its staff of dictatorial, sexually predatory bureaucrats - this is the setting for Kafka's story about a man seeking both acceptance in the village and access to the castle. Kafka breaks new ground in evoking a dense village community fraught with tensions, and recounting an often poignant, occasionally farcical love-affair. He also explores the relation between the individual and power, and asks why the villagers so readily submit to an authority which may exist only in their collective imagination. Published only after Kafka's death, The Castle appeared in the same decade as modernist masterpieces by Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, Mann and Proust, and is among the central works of modern literature. This translation follows the text established by critical scholarship, and manuscript variants are mentioned in the notes. The introduction provides guidance to the text without reducing the reader's own freedom to make sense of this fascinatingly enigmatic novel. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Kafka's last great, unfinished novel - the book that hangs over the whole modern era like a nightmare. With a new introduction and notes by John Zilcosky The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.

'K. kept feeling that he had lost himself, or was further away in a strange land than anyone had ever been before' A remote village covered almost permanently in snow and dominated by a castle and its staff of dictatorial, sexually predatory bureaucrats - this is the setting for Kafka's story about a man seeking both acceptance in the village and access to the castle. Kafka breaks new ground in evoking a dense village community fraught with tensions, and recounting an often poignant, occasionally farcical love-affair. He also explores the relation between the individual and power, and asks why the villagers so readily submit to an authority which may exist only in their collective imagination. Published only after Kafka's death, The Castle appeared in the same decade as modernist masterpieces by Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, Mann and Proust, and is among the central works of modern literature. This translation follows the text established by critical scholarship, and manuscript variants are mentioned in the notes. The introduction provides guidance to the text without reducing the reader's own freedom to make sense of this fascinatingly enigmatic novel. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.

'He is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him' Vladimir Nabokov The story of K. and his arrival in a village where he is never accepted, and his relentless, unavailing struggle with authority in order to gain entrance to the castle that seems to rule it. K.'s isolation and perplexity, his begging for the approval of elusive and anonymous powers, epitomises Kafka's vision of twentieth-century alienation and anxiety.

'He is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him' Vladimir Nabokov The story of K. and his arrival in a village where he is never accepted, and his relentless, unavailing struggle with authority in order to gain entrance to the castle that seems to rule it. K.'s isolation and perplexity, his begging for the approval of elusive and anonymous powers, epitomises Kafka's vision of twentieth-century alienation and anxiety.

The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.

Translated and with a preface by Mark Harman Left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death, The Castle is the haunting tale of K.'s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle. Scrupulously following the fluidity and breathlessness of the sparsely punctuated original manuscript, Mark Harman's new translation reveals levels of comedy, energy, and visual power previously unknown to English language readers.

Translated and with a preface by Mark Harman Left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death, The Castle is the haunting tale of K.'s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle. Scrupulously following the fluidity and breathlessness of the sparsely punctuated original manuscript, Mark Harman's new translation reveals levels of comedy, energy, and visual power previously unknown to English language readers.

Summoned to take up the position of a land surveyor to the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties.

'Riveting . . . an unmissable piece of work' MEGAN NOLAN, OBSERVER 'One of our greatest non-fiction storytellers' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE 'Addictively readable' DOLLY ALDERTON 'Ridiculously compelling and wonderfully weird . . . wise, timely and extremely funny' LOUIS THEROUX 'If you want a totally compelling live mystery that will make you burn for justice, READ THIS BOOK URGENTLY' MARINA HYDE The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test returns with a shocking, darkly comic trip to the furthest reaches of the masculinity crisis I honestly have no clue what is going on. This is very weird. We left. Was completely fucked. All good now. When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts from his son Joel who’d been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England late one night, it sets Ronson Sr. off on an adventure into an underworld of unmoored and disaffected men. As Jon deepens his investigation into the castle and the wider ‘man crisis’ – where some are feeling tossed around in a sea of conflicting ideologies of what it means to be a man – urgent questions come to light. What exactly is ‘Princessing’? Why did a lawn care influencer dress as a baby in front of billions of online viewers, with catastrophic results? And more pressingly, why are two recently released murderers on their way to pay Jon a visit? From the death of utopian factory towns to the false promise of YouTube influencer culture, Jon shows us our rapidly changing world like never before, and the men caught in the middle. A world drained of purpose, of collapsing institutions, where a new era of disinhibited behaviour has taken hold of our online and real-world selves. And as the castle mystery twists and turns into a cat-and-mouse story, will Jon be able to discover its terrifying secret hidden from the world? THE CASTLE marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page. Utterly hilarious and criminally entertaining, this is one of our greatest non-fiction writers at the top of his game: diagnosing our societal frailties in a narrative of blistering pace, insight and intensity.

'Fantastic and intensely of the moment, The Castle is a dogged feat of investigation from one of our greatest non-fiction storytellers' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of LONDON FALLING The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test returns with a shocking, darkly comic trip to the furthest reaches of the masculinity crisis I honestly have no clue what is going on. This is very weird. We left. Was completely fucked. All good now. When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts from his son Joel who’d been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England late one night, it sets Ronson Sr. off on an adventure into an underworld of unmoored and disaffected men. As Jon deepens his investigation into the castle and the wider ‘man crisis’ – where some are feeling tossed around in a sea of conflicting ideologies of what it means to be a man – urgent questions come to light. What exactly is ‘Princessing’? Why did a lawn care influencer dress as a baby in front of billions of online viewers, with catastrophic results? And more pressingly, why are two recently released murderers on their way to pay Jon a visit? From the death of utopian factory towns to the false promise of YouTube influencer culture, Jon shows us our rapidly changing world like never before, and the men caught in the middle. A world drained of purpose, of collapsing institutions, where a new era of disinhibited behaviour has taken hold of our online and real-world selves. And as the castle mystery twists and turns into a cat-and-mouse story, will Jon be able to discover its terrifying secret hidden from the world? THE CASTLE marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page. Utterly hilarious and criminally entertaining, this is one of our greatest non-fiction writers at the top of his game: diagnosing our societal frailties in a narrative of blistering pace, insight and intensity. 'Ridiculously compelling and wonderfully weird . . . The Castle is vintage Ronson: wise, timely and extremely funny' LOUIS THEROUX

The Castle, an exclusive group of houses built around a gold course, is a safe haven in a nation troubled by the war in Vietnam, political assassinations, and the growing shadow of Watergate. For the disillusioned publisher Hamer, it is an escape from a world that has disappointed him. For Hamer's wife, Kathryn, it's become a close community and support network. But something is very wrong in the Castle. A teenage boy has gone missing. There are thefts, threats, shootings. Hamer and Kathryn have begun to fear that the Castle may not be so safe after all, that they and their neighbours are the targets of a conspiracy with a single purpose: to destroy five families and punish them for the sins of their children. And one of those families could be his own. A siege has begun. And blood will out. An exceptional and unforgettable historical thriller, The Castle is about secrets: the secrets of the state, the secrets of families, and perhaps the secrets we hide even from ourselves.

The Castle, an exclusive group of houses built around a gold course, is a safe haven in a nation troubled by the war in Vietnam, political assassinations, and the growing shadow of Watergate. For the disillusioned publisher Hamer, it is an escape from a world that has disappointed him. For Hamer's wife, Kathryn, it's become a close community and support network. But something is very wrong in the Castle. A teenage boy has gone missing. There are thefts, threats, shootings. Hamer and Kathryn have begun to fear that the Castle may not be so safe after all, that they and their neighbours are the targets of a conspiracy with a single purpose: to destroy five families and punish them for the sins of their children. And one of those families could be his own. A siege has begun. And blood will out. An exceptional and unforgettable historical thriller, The Castle is about secrets: the secrets of the state, the secrets of families, and perhaps the secrets we hide even from ourselves.

In "The Castle," Franz Kafka tells the story of K., a land surveyor who arrives in a remote village, eager to connect with the enigmatic castle that dominates the landscape. However, he soon finds himself entangled in a web of bureaucratic absurdity, facing confusion and isolation as he navigates the villagers' strange relationship with the castle's elusive authority. Through K.'s struggles, Kafka delves into themes of alienation, the quest for meaning, and the frustrating search for acceptance in a world ruled by arbitrary rules. With its rich symbolism and existential depth, "The Castle" invites readers to reflect on their own encounters with authority and the longing for belonging in a seemingly indifferent universe.

In "The Castle," Franz Kafka tells the story of K., a land surveyor who arrives in a remote village, eager to connect with the enigmatic castle that dominates the landscape. However, he soon finds himself entangled in a web of bureaucratic absurdity, facing confusion and isolation as he navigates the villagers' strange relationship with the castle's elusive authority. Through K.'s struggles, Kafka delves into themes of alienation, the quest for meaning, and the frustrating search for acceptance in a world ruled by arbitrary rules. With its rich symbolism and existential depth, "The Castle" invites readers to reflect on their own encounters with authority and the longing for belonging in a seemingly indifferent universe.