A friendly, fat, clean-shaven man assigned by Klamm to give K. his assignment and hence is his superior; however, according to Gardena, he is utterly insignificant and wouldn’t last a day in his position if not for his wife Mizzi, though according to the Teacher he is a worthy, experienced, and venerable old man. The mayor suffers from gout and receives K. in bed; he explains to K. why he is not needed as a land surveyor. He offers K. the job of school janitor to the dismay of the Teacher.
Mizzi, the mayor’s wife
The wife and assistant of the Mayor, Gardena refers to her as the one who does the work.
Klamm
An elusive castle official who is K.’s Castle Authority. Like the other Castle officials in the book, his actual area of expertise is never mentioned. K. spends a large portion of the novel trying to secure a meeting with Klamm. K., it seems, fixes many of his hopes for a successful resolution to his problems upon this meeting with Klamm. He has at least two secretaries—Erlanger (First Secretary) and Momus.
In German, “klamm” means “clammy” or “damp” and can designate a “gorge” or “ravine”. As adjective, it also means “narrow” or “strapped for cash”. In Czech (and Kafka was able to speak and read/write Czech) “klam” means “illusion”.
According to Ritchie Robertson in his notes to Anthea Bell’s translation, Klamm “suggests the Czech word klam, ‘illusion'” (p. 277).
In Prague, the Clam-Gallas Palace is pronounced the same way and may have influenced Kafka to use this multiple meaning of the Clam-Klamm.
Momus, Klamm’s secretary
A young gentleman, extremely good-looking, pale and reddish; handles all written work for and receives all petitions to Klamm. He is also secretary for Vallabene, who is not mentioned again in the novel. He insists on interrogating K., who refuses to submit.
Erlanger, Klamm’s secretary
The First secretary of Klamm who is sent to “interrogate” K., but only gives him a short message.
Olga, Barnabas’ sister
The older sister of Amalia and Barnabas. She helps K. on his quest, partly by telling him the story of why her family is considered outcasts and by teaching him some of the village customs.
Amalia, Barnabas’ sister
Younger sister of Barnabas and Olga. She was disgraced in the village after rudely turning down a summons from the castle official Sortini for sexual favors.
Barnabas’ Father
The father of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas. Past village cobbler and notable fireman. After Amalia’s disgraceful interactions with Sortini’s messenger, his business is ruined and he is stripped of his fire credentials. He is rendered an invalid after unsuccessfully trying to obtain a pardon for his family.
Barnabas’ Mother
The mother of Olga, Amalia and Barnabas.
Otto Brunswick, son-in-law of Lasemann (brother-in-law of Lasemann in Harman edition)
Hans Brunswick’s father. Opportunistically takes over Barnabas’ father’s customers as the Barnabas family falls into disrepute from Amalia’s rude treatment of Sortini’s Messenger. According to the Mayor, Brunswick was the only person in the village that desired that a land surveyor be hired. No reason for this is given.
Frau Brunswick
Hans Brunswick’s Mother. She refers to herself as “from the castle” and is the only reference to a female at the castle. K. believes that she may assist him in gaining access to the castle.
Hans, a sympathetic student
A student at the school where K. is a janitor. Offers to help K. and K. uses him to attempt to find ways to get to the castle through his mother.
Herrenhof Landlord
Landlord of the Herrenhof Inn.
Herrenhof Landlady
Well dressed landlady at the Herrenhof Inn. Seems to be the matriarch of the Inn (as is Gardena at the Bridge Inn). Is distrustful of K.
Galater
He is the castle official that assigned the assistants to K. He was also “rescued” by Barnabas’ father in a minor fire at the Herrenhof Inn.
Brügel (Bürgel in Harman edition)
A Secretary of a castle official, Friedrich. Friedrich is not mentioned again in the book, but in deleted text is referred to as an official who is falling out of favor. Brügel is a long-winded secretary who muses about Castle interrogations with K., when the latter errantly enters his room at the Herrenhof Inn. He indirectly offers to help K.; however K. is so tired that he does not accept the offer.
Sordini
An Italian castle secretary of formidable abilities, though he is kept in the lowest position of all, he exhaustively manages any transactions at the castle for his department and is suspicious of any potential error.
Sortini
Castle official associated with the village fire brigade who solicits Amalia with a sexually explicit and rude request to come to his room at the Herrenhof.
Teacher
A young, narrow-shouldered, domineering little man. When K. becomes the janitor at the school, the teacher becomes K.’s de facto superior. He does not approve of K. working at the school, but does not appear to have the authority to terminate K.’s appointment.
Miss Gisa (Fräulein Gisa), the school mistress
Tall, blond and beautiful if rather stiff assistant school teacher who is courted by Schwarzer and also dislikes K.
Schwarzer
An under-castellan’s son who appears to have given up living in the castle to court Miss Gisa and become her student teacher; is prone to outbursts of official arrogance.
Pepi
Small, rosey and healthy; a chambermaid who is promoted to Frieda’s barmaid position when the latter leaves her position at the Herrenhoff to live with K. She was a chambermaid with Emilie and Hennriette.
Lasemann, a tanner, father-in-law of Otto Brunswick (brother-in-law of Otto Brunswick in Harman edition)
Slow and dignified, the village tanner whose house K. rests in for a few hours during his first full day in the village.
Gerstacker, a coachman
Initially suspicious of K. but gives him a free sleigh ride back to the Bridge Inn after refusing to provide a ride to the castle. At the end of the book attempts to befriend K. since he believes K. has clout with Erlanger.
Seemann, the Fire Company chief
The fire chief who strips Barnabas’ father of his fireman diploma after Barnabas’ family falls into shame from Amalia’s rude treatment of Sortini’s Messenger.
Count Westwest
The local Graf and supposed owner of the castle. He is only mentioned and never appears.
Major themesTheology
It is well-documented that Brod’s original construction was based on religious themes and this was furthered by the Muirs in their translations. But it has not ended with the Critical Editions. Numerous interpretations have been made with a variety of theological angles.
One interpretation of K.’s struggle to contact the castle is that it represents a man’s search for salvation. According to Mark Harman, translator of a 1998 edition of The Castle, this was the interpretation favored by the original translators Willa Muir (helped by Edwin), who produced the first English volume in 1930. Harman feels he has removed the bias in the translations toward this view, but many still feel this is the point of the book.
Fueling the biblical interpretations of the novel are the various names and situations. For example, the official Galater (the German word for Galatians), one of the initial regions to develop a strong Christian following from the work of Apostle Paul and his assistant Barnabas. The name of the messenger, Barnabas, for the same reason. Even the Critical Editions naming of the beginning chapter, “Arrival”, among other things liken K. to an Old Testament messiah.
Bureaucracy
The obvious thread throughout The Castle is bureaucracy. The extreme degree is nearly comical and the village residents’ justifications of it are amazing. Hence it is no surprise that many feel that the work is a direct result of the political situation of the era in which it was written, which was shot through with anti-Semitism, remnants of the Habsburg monarchy, etc.
But even in these analyses, the veiled references to more sensitive issues are pointed out. For instance, the treatment of the Barnabas family, with their requirement to first prove guilt before they could request a pardon from it and the way their fellow villagers desert them have been pointed out as a direct reference to the anti-Semitic climate at the time.
In a review of the novel in The Guardian, William Burrows disputes the view that The Castle deals with bureaucracy, claiming that this view trivializes Kafka’s literary and artistic vision, and is “reductive”. He claims, instead, that the book is about solitude, pain, and the desire for companionship.
Allusions to other works
Critics often talk of The Castle and The Trial in concert, highlighting the struggle of the protagonist against a bureaucratic system and standing before the law’s door unable to enter as in the parable of the priest in The Trial.
In spite of motifs common with other works of Kafka, The Castle is quite different from The Trial. While K., the protagonist of The Castle, faces similar uncertainty and difficulty in grasping the reality that suddenly surrounds him, Josef K., the protagonist of The Trial, seems more experienced and emotionally stronger. But while Josef K.’s surroundings stay familiar even when strange events befall him, K. finds himself in a new world whose laws and rules are unfamiliar to him.
Publication history
In 1926 Brod persuaded Kurt Wolff to publish the first German edition of The Castle in his publishing house. Due to its unfinished nature and his desire to get Kafka’s work published, Max Brod took some editorial freedom.
In 2022 The Castle entered the public domain.
Muir translation
In 1930 Willa and Edwin Muir translated the First German edition of The Castle as it was compiled by Max Brod. It was published by Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States. The 1941 edition, with a homage by Thomas Mann, was the one that fed the post-war Kafka craze.
In 1954 the “definitive” edition was published and included additional sections Brod had added to the
