继续《重新评价卡夫卡》的翻译，是为之五，之四即《现实比小说更让人惊恐》。
Kafka’s next
great novel, The Castle, brings us
back to the same world, which this time is seen not through the eyes of
somebody who finally submits to necessity and who learns of its government only
because he has been accused by it, but through the eyes of quite another K.
This K. comes to it out of his own free will, as a stranger, and wants to
realize there a very definite purpose— to establish himself, to become a
fellow-citizen, build up a life and marry, to find work and be a useful member
of society.卡夫卡另一部伟大的小说《城堡》把我们带回同样的世界，但这一次是通过另一个K的眼睛去看这个世界，这个K完全不同，不是最终屈服于必须，不是因为被政府指控才得以了解政府。这个K以一个陌生人的姿态主动选择了进入这样一个世界，执着追求一个明确的目标——自我实现,让自己被认可为同类，成家立业、找到工作，并且成为一个对社会有用的人。
The outstanding
characteristic of the K. in The Castle is that he is interested only in universals, in those things to which all men
have a natural right. But while he demands no more than this, it is quite obvious
that he will be satisfied with nothing less. He is easily enough persuaded to
change his profession, but an occupation, “regular work,” he demands as his
right. The troubles of K. start because only the Castle can fulfill his
demands; and the Castle will do this either as an “act of favor” or if he
consents to become its secret employee— “an ostensible village worker whose
real occupation is determined through Barnabas,” the court messenger.《城堡》中K的突出特点就是他只对普适的、或者说所有人都有天赋权力的事情感兴趣。这看上去要求不高，但实际上他只有得到这些才会满足。说服他改变自己的职业很容易，但他的要求是把“正常工作”作为自己的权利。K的麻烦在于：只有城堡可以满足他这个要求，而城堡要么将满足K的要求当作一个“恩赐行为”，要么他同意成为它的秘密雇员——“一个假扮的村庄工作者，其真正职责是由城堡信使巴纳巴斯决定的”。Since his
demands are nothing more than the inalienable rights of man, he cannot accept
them as an “act of favor from the Castle.” At this point the villagers step in;
they try to persuade K. that he lacks experience and does not know that the
whole of life is constituted and dominated by favor and disfavor, by grace and
disgrace, both as inexplicable, as hazardous as good and bad luck. To be in the
right or in the wrong, they try to explain to him, is part of “fate” which no
one can alter, which one can only fulfill.
由于他的要求不过是一个人不可剥夺的权利，他不能接受所谓“来自城堡的恩赐行为”。在这时候，村民们加入进来，他们试图说服K，说他缺乏经验，不知道整个人生就是被那些人的喜怒和予夺所建构和掌控的，而这些都是无法解释的，靠撞大运。他们试图向他解释：对错是“命运”的一部分，没法改变，只能获得。
