num_pages: 9
description: Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. As the villagers and the Castle officials block his efforts at every turn, K.’s consuming quest–quite possibly a self-imposed one–to penetrate the inaccessible heart of the Castle and take its measure is repeatedly frustrated. Kafka once suggested that the would-be surveyor in The Castle is driven by a wish “to get clear about ultimate things,” an unrealizable desire that provided the driving force behind all of Kafka’s dazzlingly uncanny fictions.
title: The Castle
titlecomplete: The Castle
characters: Olga, Friedrich, Grafen Westwest, Seemann, Gardena, Gerstäcker, Klamm, Brügel, Frieda, Pepi, Lasemann, Herrenhof Wirt, Herrenhof Wirtin, Galater, Artur und Jeremias, Barnabas, Erlanger, Barnabas' Mutter, Dorfvorsteher, K., Fräulein Gisa, Mizzi, Momus, Sortini, Amalia, Barnabas' Vater, Lehrer, Frau Brunswick, Sordini, Hans Brunswick, Otto Brunswick, Schwarzer
genres: Fiction, Philosophy, German Literature, Literature, Czech Literature, Classics, Novels, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, Dystopia
ratings_count: 59726
places: Czechoslovakia
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Schlegel-Tieck Prize
category: J.A. Underwood
publisher: Blackstone Publishing