Where I say bad things about Kafka’s “The Trial”
May 1st, 2007 | Published in Books & Reading, Writing
A couple months ago I started reading The Trial by Franz Kafka. I had read his short story Metamorphosis and thought The Trial would be at least as good. I had brought it with me on a trip and was looking forward to reading it.
As I started reading it my enthusiasm wavered. I plodded along, but finally I had to stop. The phrasing was awkward and the conversations were horribly formal. I was exasperated by phrases like:
“wait for what may be decided for you”
“in his secret heart he thought he had managed after all to speed up the proceedings”
“It’s completely null and void…. If immediately on waking I had got up without troubling my head….”
Secret heart? Immediately on waking? Good grief, third graders can write better than that. So, my dear readers, did any of you read and enjoy this story? I’m assuming the problem is my translation (by Willa and Edwin Muir). Can anyone confirm that?