The Castle

A man known only as K. arrives in a snowbound village to take up a post as land surveyor for the lord of its castle, and finds himself in a baffling struggle to make contact with his new employer. Franz Kafka's last novel follows his efforts to be accepted by the villagers and to get into the castle, along with a love affair that is often poignant and at times farcical, and asks why the villagers submit so readily to an authority that may exist only in their shared imagination. Kafka began it in 1922 and left it unfinished; it was published after his death, against his wishes. Rudolf Noelte filmed it in 1968, with Maximilian Schell as K.

Igor Debatur, chief executive of UploadCare, listed it in an interview among the books he recommends to young people who want to follow his career path.