&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Franz_Kafka_Das_Schloss.jpg) First edition (1926) | |
| Author | Franz Kafka |
|---|---|
| Original title | Das Schloss |
| Translator | see Publication history |
| Language | German |
| Genre | Political fiction, absurdist fiction, paranoid fiction |
| Set in | A village in Central Europe |
| Publisher | Kurt Wolff |
Publication date | 1926 |
| 833.912 | |
| LC Class | PT2621.A26 S33 |
Original text | Das Schloss at German Wikisource |
| Website | www |
The Castle (German: Das Schloss, also spelled Das Schloß [das ˈʃlɔs]) is the last novel by Franz Kafka. In it a protagonist known only as "K." arrives in a village and struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern it from a castle supposedly owned by Graf Westwest.
Kafka died before he could finish the work and the novel was posthumously published against his wishes. Dark and at times surreal, The Castle is often understood to be about alienation, unresponsive bureaucracy, the frustration of trying to conduct business with non-transparent, seemingly arbitrary controlling systems, and the futile pursuit of an unobtainable goal.