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Work #668 · Late

The Trial (Der Process)

Franz Kafka
1914-15 (composed); 1925 (posthumous) · German
Modernist novel · German-language modernism / Prague Jewish literature

Kafka's 1925 foundational modernist text — Josef K.'s mysterious trial in an unknowable bureaucratic system

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Trial (Der Process) (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Trial (Der Process)

The temporal time of Josef K.'s mysterious trial.

Space

The Trial (Der Process)

The inscrutable bureaucratic space.

Matter

The Trial (Der Process)

The embodied Josef K. caught in the system.

Observer

The Trial (Der Process)

Josef K. as Kafkaesque absurdist protagonist.

Energy

The Trial (Der Process)

Energies of absurd bureaucratic power.

Information

The Trial (Der Process)

Foundational Kafkaesque-absurdist framework.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Trial (Der Process)

The Trial foundational for 20th-c. absurdist literature and the concept of "Kafkaesque" bureaucratic absurdity.