Karl Rossman has been banished by his parents to America following a family scandal. There with unquenchable optimism he throws himself into the strange experiences that lie before him as he slowly makes his way into the interior of the great continent. Although Kafkas first novel (begun in 1911 & never finished) can be read as a menacing allegory of modern life it is also infused with a quite un-Kafkaesque blitheness & sunniness brought to life in this lyrical translation that returns to the original manuscript of the book.