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Letters to Milena
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
In no other work does Franz Kafka reveal himself as in Letters to Milena, which begins as a business correspondence but soon develops into a passionate but doomed epistolary love affair. Kafka's Czech translator, Milena Jesensk, was a gifter and charismatic twenty-three-year-old who was uniquely able to recognize Kafka's complex genius and his even more complex character. For thirty-six-year-old Kafka, she was "a living fire, such as I have never seen." It was to Milena that he revealed his most intimate self and, eventually, entrusted his diaries for safekeeping.
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GatheringBooks
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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#BookMoods Day 18: This fits the #Epistolary prompt to a T. A Big Bad Wolf book find.

Eggs Perfect 👍🏼 2y
49 likes1 comment
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itsyvetperez
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Pickpick

"You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love."

-- 4 ⭐️

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Jari-chan
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Pickpick

More and more I enjoy reading letters by famous people. They show us another side of this person, one not even the best biography can describe. Here we meet Kafka as he is: Kafka. Writing beautiful letters to his Milena. This love cannot be and will not be, but still they keep on going. That Milenas letters have gone missing is a tragedy. But it also gives this collection a special touch. We have only Kafkas side of view, the recipient is silent.⬇

Jari-chan There's so much emotion in these texts, hope, loss, desperation. One gets into the deepest thoughts of Franz Kafka, and yes, I sometimes remember that he wouldn't have liked being dragged into the light this much. But for us readers these letters are a treasure.

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo
3y
TheAromaofBooks I really enjoy letters as well. Isn't it crazy that a hundred years from now, there won't be volumes like this for famous people of today? Maybe a collection of their tweets?? 3y
Jari-chan @TheAromaofBooks Or a collection of Instagram posts? 🤔 3y
33 likes3 comments
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Jari-chan
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Here's my #BookSpinBingo list for June. The last few are my Jokers again. Either I read a random book or one for the mentioned challenge.

Can you believe it - it's June already!

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
17 likes1 comment
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solongandfaraway
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Bertha_Mason 💖💖💖💖 3y
3 likes1 comment
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solongandfaraway
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Bertha_Mason 😢 4y
Nute Welcome to Litsy! It‘s a warm and friendly community. I know that you will enjoy yourself here. I‘m looking forward to getting to know you!🙂 3y
3 likes3 comments
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Valeka
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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First book of the year. #bookriotchallenge

15 likes1 stack add
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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I did a thing...I‘ve decided to take my old dog blog and expand it to include longer book reviews. I‘ve just published my first review. If you‘re so inclined, please check it out here: https://wp.me/pKWKW-4s

😘😘

BarbaraBB Love your review. And I will get a copy! 😘 6y
DGRachel @BarbaraBB Thank you for checking out the blog post. I‘m a wee bit nervous about the whole blogging thing. 😘 6y
dsfisher You write such well thought out reviews, I am always in awe. 6y
DGRachel @dsfisher Aww. You‘re too kind. I love you, Momma. Now, go follow my blog. I need followers. 😂😂 6y
64 likes4 comments
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Pickpick

Finally finished! I‘m not a fan of Kafka and read this only because it is featured in a Turkish rom-com that I‘m obsessed with, but...there‘s no denying the magic in these letters. There‘s something haunting the pages of Kafka‘s private letters to a woman he clearly respected, admired, and loved, and despite there being no real narrative, I felt compelled to finish. #Bailey doesn‘t appreciate being a book prop. 😂 #dogsoflitsy #pitbullsoflitsy

Marilyncjackson I love the puppy! The book is meh to me too 6y
TrishB Bailey is less than impressed 🐶😘 6y
BarbaraBB Sounds good. So does the Turkish romcom 6y
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DGRachel @BarbaraBB I love it! I‘m totally obsessed, so much so that I watch the livestream on Saturdays in Turkish (no subtitles) even though I don‘t speak Turkish, and chat with a Facebook fan group where we all try to guess what‘s going on and then watch the episode again once subtitles are published. 😂😂 It‘s really cutting into my reading time as each episode is over 2 hours long. 6y
Cinfhen That‘s hilarious!! My hubby watched some Turkish series on Netflix also in Turkish but I think there were subtitles 🤔 it was also hundreds of hours!!! But he LOVED it 6y
BarbaraBB Wow, I love that kind of obsessions 😂💕 6y
DGRachel @Cinfhen I‘ve been watching Ezel on Netflix with the English subtitles, but Erkenci Kus isn‘t available there, so I watch the livestream through YouTube and then subscribed to a site called TurkFlix for the English subtitles. I‘m also watching Inadina Ask with subtitles on a site called Dramaturca. #sendhelp 😂 6y
Cinfhen 😂😂🤣😂🤣😂need to ask hubby what he was watching!! He literally has an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the series he follows....#CompletelyOffTheRails 6y
DGRachel @Cinfhen That‘s actually a really good idea. #smarthubby I keep forgetting what episode I‘m on of Inadina Ask! 6y
Leftcoastzen Beautiful Bailey!😘 6y
DGRachel @Leftcoastzen Bailey says thanks! 😘 6y
batsy Bailey! 😍 6y
86 likes2 stack adds12 comments
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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I feel like every time I close a reading session, the Bookly app tells me I have even more time left to read this book, not less. How can I keep reading without making progress. 😭😭 I had really hoped to finish a couple books in progress this weekend, but I seem to be running into a brick wall. How can a book that is so short take so long to read?

laurieluna Is it the first time you've used it? My kindle took a few books to learn my reading speed. Also depends on how many words per page the digital copy has. 6y
DGRachel @miralunasbooknook I‘ve used the app a lot. My reading speed fluctuates by book, between .9 and 2 minutes per page. Letters to Milena is just taking forever and apparently I‘m easily distracted while reading it lately, so I‘ve gone from an average speed of 1.2 min/page to nearly 2 min/page, which makes the time remaining go up, instead of down, or at least not go down as fast as I would like. 😭 6y
Linear When I look this app up I see two different ones and cant tell which you have. One had like a 1.5 out of 5 stars though 6y
Linear Never mind, I just figured out why. It's a strictly apple app. Ah well. Maybe your problem is your using apple? 😋 hash tag: samsung android for life! 6y
DGRachel @Linear My problem isn‘t the app, it‘s the book. 😂 I‘m struggling to get it through it and the app is just highlighting that struggle. 6y
78 likes5 comments
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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I forgot to run my stopwatch while I listened to a new audiobook on my commute and didn‘t run it when I read a work, so my current total for #24B4Monday is 0️⃣, but the Kindle app says I have 2 1/2 hours to go in the tagged book, so I‘m going to switch back to print and see if I can‘t knock it out before I pass out and log a couple hours in the Readathon. It‘s either that or break into my #achristieswapisannounced package early. 😱🤔🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

Ashley_Nicoletto Washington Black sounds SO good. 6y
DGRachel @Ashley_Nicoletto I have only gotten 25 minutes into it, but I was shocked by the graphic violence. I may need to switch to print to get through it. 😔 6y
Ashley_Nicoletto @DGRachel Ohh interesting. Thanks for the warning! I may have to do more research before reading. 6y
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LeahBergen I will allow myself to bring the box out of the closet tomorrow. 😂😂 6y
LeahBergen And I‘m totally doing a midnight opening! 😂 6y
Sophoclessweetheart I can‘t wait to see what everyone got! 6y
DGRachel @LeahBergen 15 hours 11 minutes to go... (totally doing the midnight opening thing here, too!!) 6y
66 likes7 comments
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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I have things I need to do today, but I feel mentally unable to cope with adulting in any form, so instead of being responsible, I‘m indulging in some #SaturdaySnuggles, starting this book.
#bookandBailey #bailey #dogsoflitsy #pitbullsoflitsy

LiteraryinPA Take care of yourself today! 6y
Reecaspieces Sounds like the perfect plan to me! Enjoy! 6y
AmyG Your snuggle buddy is perfect! 6y
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keys_on_fire I‘m feeling the same way. I‘m blaming it on the rain we‘re getting here right now! 6y
valeriegeary Hmmmm....I might have to do this too 6y
Slajaunie Adult if is way too difficult after the first week of school. I‘m all in! 6y
Eggbeater Your dog looks just like my pibble Rose! I am reading, listening to the blues, and cuddling with Rose right this minute. 😍 6y
103 likes1 stack add7 comments
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DGRachel
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Y‘all. I need an intervention. Thanks to an author fan page on Facebook, I got sucked into a Turkish soap opera and have become completely obsessed. Erkenci Kuş (the show) is taking over my life. So much so, that even though I HATED The Metamorphosis in school, I ordered the tagged book because the MC in EK was reading it, said it was his favorite book, and the heroine said “she‘d memorized the whole book”

Send help. Or the next episode.

britt_brooke 😆 6y
Dragon Soap operas , I am a Young and Restless fan. In fact since I have Friday off I get to watch an episode. 👍🐉 6y
Reggie Lolol awesome. 6y
minkyb Love this post! 6y
AlaMich One of my former neighbors got hooked on Korean soaps because she was in grad school and didn‘t have the money for cable. 😊 6y
86 likes5 comments
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Anneblythe
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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When Kafka gets clingy... 😂💙

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Anneblythe
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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"... as long as we must place our fingers in the wounds, we have the right to convince ourselves the wounds exist, and that they are deep." ?

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GoneFishing
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka

Milena - what a rich heavy name, almost too full to be lifted, and in the beginning I didn't like it much, it seemed to me a Greek or Roman gone astray in Bohemia, violated by Czech, cheated of its accent, and yet in colour and form it is marvellously a woman, a woman whom one carries in one's arms out of the world, and out of the fire, I don't know which, and she presses herself willingly and trustingly into your arms.

Cathythoughts I love your quotes. I read Kafka years ago. It's great to be reminded of his greatness 7y
23 likes1 stack add1 comment
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GoneFishing
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka

You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love.

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dionysiac
Milena'ya Mektuplar | Franz Kafka

Tatlı mısınız acaba?

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Obviousstate
Letters to Milena | Franz Kafka
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Just a few pages in, but here's a great excerpt from one of the first letters dated April 1920. "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 cafe, your figure, your dress, that I still see.”

Berenices And what a tumultuous relationship it was! Love your photo. 7y
19 likes9 stack adds1 comment