An acclaimed translation of the final work by Franz Kafka—author of Metamorphosis and some of the twentieth century's greatest literature—following the story of a man's bizarre, unending struggle to carry out his mysterious new job

A Penguin Classic

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.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a Czech-born, German-speaking author of some of the most important literature of the twentieth century, including Metamorphosis (1912), The Trial (1925), and Amerika (1927).

J. A. Underwood (translator; 1930–2018) was recognized by the Society of Authors for his translation of The Castle and has translated a wide variety of modern authors, among them Elias Canetti, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julien Green, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.

John Zilcosky (introduction and notes) is a recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim fellowship in literary criticism and a German and comparative literature professor at the University of Toronto.

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