The Castle

Published in 1926, this unfinished novel follows K., a land surveyor who arrives in a village beneath a castle and cannot obtain recognition or a clear task from the authorities there. He lodges at the inn, becomes involved with Frieda, who has been the messenger Klamm's mistress, and tries to reach officials through letters, waiting rooms, and intermediaries who never quite deliver access. Village manners and the castle's bureaucracy remain opaque. The book is a novel of obstruction and status, not an allegory with a stated key.

Bound in paper, printed with a design by Bill Bragg. Black slipcase.