THE CASTLE

This novel-length parable by the brilliant master of existential angst Franz Kafka was published posthumously in 1926. Our hero, K. (pronounced “Kah” in this recording), enters a small village ready to assume duties as municipal surveyor. He finds that mysterious, bureaucratic, and willful denizens of the nearby castle exercise absolute and self-serving rule over the precincts, and choose to throw obstacle after obstacle in his path. At times humorous and always nightmarish, this unfinished existential parable, while already powerful on the page, gains additional potency from British actor-director Allan Corduner’s spot-on narration. He treats the shocking and bizarre with matter-of-fact cool while breathing life into the dramatis personae. Through his efforts we feel K’s humiliation and alienation, and it makes us shiver. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2011]