'The hero wakens one morning to find that he is under arrest, without having done anything to deserve it. He is called before certain curious tribunals, of whose purpose and competence he is quite ignorant. He engages advocates whose status he cannot discover, seeks the advice of experts who really know nothing about the case; indeed nobody knows, except by hearsay. He cannot discover what his offfence was, nor if his trial has any hope of a reasonable end. He is told there are only three courses he can follow: ask for his case to be lingered out as long as possible, so that the verdict may be indefinitely delayed; sue for 'ostensible pardon,' which is easy to win but lasts only for a short time, after which he will be arrested again; or demand real pardon, of which nothing is known, except in ancient history.'

I haven't left myself much space to talk about Franz Kafka, but this synopsis of 'The Trial' will bring out the point I was going to make: that surely Van Vogt has been influenced by him? The stories of both authors seem to me to have the same type of imaginative force and bewildering fascination.

Data entry by Judy Bemis

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