Somebody must have laid false information against Josef K., for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong. From this first sentence onwards, Josef K. is on trial for his right to exist in a novel which, more than any other, is infinitely perceptive about the nature of terror. Idris Parry introduces his remarkable translation with an essay in which he points to the autobiographical elements in The Trial, in particular Kafkas broken engagement to Felice Bauer.