Abstract

The Trial (1999) is one of the most complex novels in world literature. The research starts with reviewing various attempts that have been made by critics to comprehend the meaning of the novel The Trial. After overviewing the various ways in which the novel has been analysed, the present research aims to unravel the meaning of the text from a linguistic angle. The research is intended to do a pragmatic study of the text by taking Grice‘s Cooperative Principle as the theoretical base. The main purpose of the study is to find out whether the Grice’s Maxims are followed in the text or not. In the case of the violation of four maxims of the Cooperative Principle, which type of maxims are violated and how and what impact it has on the overall understanding of the text?

Keywords

The Trial, Franz Kafka, Grice’s Cooperative Principle, Pragmatism, Language Acquisition, Self,

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