synopsis:

A land surveyor, K., is invited to the Castle to do some work for the Count, but when he arrives at the Village, he finds that nobody is expecting him. K.'s attempts to get into the Castle are as unsuccessful as his attempt to settle into the local village. He is greeted by a compact reluctance from the villagers, who with a systematic inefficiency prevent him from any prospects of even approaching the castle. The harder the stubborn K. tries, the farther he moves from his goals. The impenetrable, seemingly haphazard but strangulating bureaucracy of the castle hinders the clarification of his social and existential situation. K. remains what he was on the day of his arrival: a stranger who is barely tolerated.

on this book:

The castle was published in 1926, two years after Franz Kafka's death. He had never finished the novel, but even in this unfinished form it is clear that Kafka was, once again (after the trial), trying tot come to terms with the memory of his tiranical father. In lucid, deceptively simple prose he describes a man's desperate struggle with an overwhelming power, in this case one that may be sought after and begged in vain for approval.see also: * kafka [movies]