Philip Boehm

Franz Kafka

A new translation of Kafka's letters to his Czech translator, Milena Jesenska, includes materials previously unpublished as well as some of her letters and essays

Letters to Milena

Briefe an Milena

Ribs

But people only babble if they're a little happy for once.

Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska - an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writer Kafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech, and their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so, laid bare his heart and his conscience. While at times Milena's 'genius for living' gave Kafka new life, it ultimately exhausted him, and their relationship was to last little over two years. In 1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, and Milena died in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving these letters as a moving record of their relationship.

It's a little as if instead of just having to wash up, comb one's hair, etc.; before every walk—which is already difficult enough—a person is constantly missing everything he needs to take with him, and so each time he has to sew his clothes, make his boots, manufacture his hat, cut his walking stick, etc. Of course it's impossible to do all of that well; it may hold up for a few blocks, but then suddenly, at the Graben, for example, everything falls apart and he's left standing there naked with rags and pieces.

Isn't that wonderful? One decides to keep on living a little while, at least through the afternoon, until the matter is once again forgotten.

So that was the storm which kept threatening in the forest, still we were happy all the same. Let's go on living with its threats since we don't have any choice.

I'm not saying this out of jealousy, Milena, I'm not jealous. Either the world is so tiny or else we are so gigantic; in any case we fill it completely. Of whom should I be jealous?

And despite everything, I think that if it is possible to die of happiness then I will certainly do so. And if someone destined to die can be kept alive by happiness, then I will stay alive.

All right then, I'll be mad at you on this score, which incidentally is no great misfortune, as things balance out quite well if there's a little anger for you lurking in one corner of my heart.

[…]—nonetheless your sleep was peaceful. So when sleep passes over me in the night, I know where it is headed and accept this.

this is the quote i saw that made me want to read this in the first place :)

It occurs to me that I really can't remember your face in any precise detail. Only the way you walked away through the tables in the café, your figure, your dress that I still see.

Translated by Tania and James Stern

Andjela Cvetković

Simone Endres

Selin Igten

‘I can't explain to you or to anybody what it's like inside me. How could I begin to explain; I can't even explain it to myself. But even this is not the main thing; the main thing is obvious: it is impossible to live like a human being around me; you see this and yet you don't want to believe it?’

‘I'm very sorry about the flowers you received--so sorry I can't even decipher what kind of flowers they were. And now they're in your room. If I really were your wardrobe I'd suddenly shove myself out of the room in broad daylight and wait.’

Laura Rodrigues de Pina

Acho que poucas leituras na minha vida serão tão prazeirosas e dolorosas na minha vida, nunca havia experimentado sentimento tão agridoce a me identificar nas paginas de um livro.

Mo'men Alhoot

وأخيرًا انتهيت من هذا الكتاب وانتهى كل شئ معه!!
(ممكن تقروا ال review الكامل على Instagram)

I love this book very much & I think it’s made me obsessed with letters. Kafka’s writing, even informally, is so pretty and intense and lovely :)

Julia 

juana de arco si estuviera cronicamente online

weli 

Franz Kafka, Prag’da bir dost meclisinde tanıştığı gazeteci Milena Jesenská’dan öykülerini Çekçeye çevirmesini ister. Kafka ile Milena’nın yollarının kesişmesine neden olan bu dilek, bir ilişkinin başlangıcı, Milena’ya Mektuplar başlığı altında toplanan bu yazışmalarsa kısıtlı bir iletişimin tek aracı olacaktır. Milena’ya Mektuplar eşi benzeri olmayan bir kitap, mektuplarla örülmüş bir aşk hikâyesidir. Kafka’nın Milena’ya 1920 Nisan’ında, yağmurlu bir günden söz ederek başlattığı bu yazışmalar, yazarın ölümünden kısa bir süre öncesine kadar süregiderken ümitsizliğin, çaresizliğin ve tıkanışın anlatımına dönüşür. Çünkü Kafka için mektup yazmak, “... hayaletlerin önünde soyunmak demektir ki, onlar da aç kurtlar gibi bunu bekler zaten. Yazıya dökülen öpücükler yerlerine ulaşmaz, hayaletler yolda içip bitirir onları.”

Letters to Milena

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