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Letters to Milena

Discover Franz Kafka’s love letters – the surprise TikTok sensation!
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( 23,195 ratings, 3,129 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka is a compelling collection of heartfelt letters from Kafka to Milena JesenskΓ‘, a talented Czech journalist. These letters reveal the depths of Kafka's emotional life, illustrating his profound feelings and intellectual connection with Milena. Through their correspondence, we gain insight into Kafka's personal struggles, creative process, and the intensity of his inner world.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you're fascinated by intimate exchanges that reveal the complexities of human emotion and the intricate mind of a literary genius. Through the letters, you'll uncover a deeply personal glimpse into the struggles, doubts, and affections of the author, offering a compelling exploration of love, loneliness, and creativity.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writer.

You are the knife I turn inside myself

Letters to Milena contains Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska, providing 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. 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.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Letters to Milena showcases Kafka's deeply personal and introspective exchanges with Milena JesenskΓ‘, revealing his complex emotional life and literary genius. Critics, like Edwin Muir, often regard Kafka as a strange yet captivating figure, highlighting the intensity and depth of his thoughts and feelings explored through these letters. The book is celebrated for its unfiltered insight into Kafka’s mind, intertwining biography with a profound exploration of identity and creativity.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781784874001

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 December 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 194g

Pages: 272

About the Author

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born into a Jewish family in Prague. In 1906 he received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and for many years he worked a tedious job as a civil service lawyer investigating claims at the State Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He never married, and published only a few slim volumes of stories during his lifetime. Meditation, a collection of sketches, appeared in 1912; The Stoker- A Fragment in 1913; Metamorphosis in 1915; The Judgement in 1916; In the Penal Colony in 1919; and A Country Doctor in 1920. The great novels were not published until after his death from tuberculosis- America, The Trial and The Castle.

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