Kafka's Twisted Ability of Hosptality Show in The Trial

While researching this novel I came across an excerpt, in which someone who was close to Franz Kafka, had managed to make Kafka mad by referring to Edgar Allen Poe’s work to have been written under the influence of alcohol. This presumably angered Kafka because that would denote all his work to the smallest form rather then for what it is; a gruesome form of mystery. Kafka had then said this about Poe: ' (Poe) was a poor devil who had no defenses against the world…. He wrote tales of mystery to make himself at home in the world.' The way Kafka went out to describe the genre of mystery was by romantasing it in a way. At the very least, Kafka’s view of what the genre of mystery was varied drastically from what the rest of the world believed it to be; something that was very dark and obsessed with punishment. After coming across this quote, it led me to wonder, in what way could and individual believe that this form of writing; mystery, make someone ‘feel at home in the world’? However the mystery components in Kafka's The Trial add to fundamentally the same environment. They are a piece of Kafka’s conjured up universe, woven into the most recognizable settings. Which not only resonate with Kafka but can make the average reader feel ‘at home’ in a world which is full of crime and unjustifiable crime at that.

At the point when Joseph K. gets up one morning, he is visited by someone who he does not know, who lets him know: 'You can't go out, you are under arrest.' 'So it appears. In any case, what for.' 'We are not authorized to tell you that' This is the conversation that this man has with our lead, Joseph K. Normally in the genre of mystery the act of punishment, or arrest tends to be a concluding scene. But strangely, The Trial starts off with Joseph supposedly being arrested for a crime. Generic Mystery novels consist of simulating an atmosphere which provokes the readers to wonder who might be the offender or who it is we are looking for throughout the novel. Yet Kafka does the opposite of this in The Trial, by having the so called criminal known from the start of the novel. By having Joseph K. being announced as the ‘criminal’ and having him arrested, Kafka is able to create an atmosphere that challenges our perception of the mystery genre from the get go. But one thing we as the audience, as well as the main character are unsure of is the crime which they have been arrested for. This again is an inversion of how a mystery genre is set up. Usually the crime is what the audience is given to follow and it’s consequences, and towards the end it is finally revealed who or what caused those consequences, and crime. A third major difference we are given between traditional mystery tropes and what we are shown in The Trial is the way the so called criminal reacts to being caught. Traditionally criminals will do their very best to avoid being caught and avoid authority in general. But in the case of The Trail, Joseph K.’s first move is to confront the justice and legal system about his alleged wrongdoing