Presumably prompted by the traumatic separation from his fiancée Felice Bauer in July 1914, Kafka wrote "The Trial" between 1914 and 1916, without ever finalizing the text or establishing the exact order of the chapters. On the morning of his 30th birthday, bank clerk Josef K. is arrested without apparent reason. However, he remains free. Initially confident that he can clarify the obvious misunderstanding, K. becomes increasingly entangled in a desperate attempt to gain knowledge of the charges against him and access to the court. Repeatedly summoned to absurd interrogations in labyrinthine offices and confronted with bizarre officials, K. inexorably moves toward an equally grotesque and catastrophic end.