Kafka

The world described in The Trial by Franz Kafka is nightmarish and irrational. While superficially recognizable to most people (haven't we all experienced a bureaucratic snafu that seems inexplicable), upon analysis it becomes a world that is uniquely unanalyzable. That seems to be a contradiction, but I would argue that the contradiction is Kafka's and the attempted analysis is a futile pursuit. There are no answers for the whys that the events suggest for there is no causal connection in the world of Kafka. Things just happen in this book and one thing may happen rather than another for no reason whatsoever because reason does not apply in the world of Joseph K. (a particularly unlikeable character). There also seem to be symbolic references that should have meaning for the reader, but that is no more reasonable than the text itself. Joseph K. is well beyond the reality of this reader and there is no way to connect to his realm, thank goodness.