Letters to Felice

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Franz Kafka  met  Felice Bauer  in August 1912, at the home of his friend Max Brod. Energetic, down-to-earth, and life-affirming, the twenty-five-year-old secretary was everything Kafka was not, and he was instantly smitten. Because he was living in Prague and she in Berlin, his courtship was largely an epistolary one - passionate, self-deprecating, and anxious letters sent almost daily, sometimes even two or three times a day. But soon after their engagement was announced in 1914, Kafka began to worry that marriage would interfere with his writing and his need for solitude. Striving to conceal his overwhelming literary insights, he inquired about mundane details about the people in the photograph, keeping his interpretations at bay. El la ama, se siente completamente absorbido por la relación y está a sus pies, pero rehúye constantemente a la posibilidad de casarse y es lógico, ya que su único propósito es escribir: "Mi empleo me resulta insoportable porque contradice mi único anhelo y mi única vocación que es la literatura, dado que no soy nada más que literatura y no puedo ni quiero ser otra cosa". Though his family cannot understand his voice, Gregor can hear all of their conversations. He learns that they have some money left in what they had saved after Mr. Samsa’s business went bankrupt. However, they do not want to dig into those funds yet, and they wouldn’t last very long. This revelation causes Gregor to feel guilty and ashamed, particularly at the idea that his mother and sister may have to find work. I was left alone in the room and was seized with such longing for you that all I wanted to do was lay my head on the table for some kind of support

Kafka met Bauer on 13 August 1912, during a visit to his friend Max Brod's residence. They did not meet again for nearly seven months, during which Kafka penned nearly half of his letters to her. Three decades have passed since Kafka's demise, and his standing in global literature continues to ascend. Did Bauer, toward the end of her life, wonder where her own letters to Kafka ended up? Kafka αναφέρεται αδιάκοπα και φαίνεται πως αισθανόταν πως υπήρχαν δυνάμεις που του υπαγόρευαν τα όσα έγραφε. Δεν ξέρω αν όλα αυτά τα εννοούσε συμβολικά ή αν πίστευε πως υπάρχουν ως ανεξάρτητες οντότητες, κάτι παρόμοιο με τους μεσαιωνικούς δαίμονες. Άλλωστε η ιδέα που έχει για τον εσωτερικό Πύργο της Βαβέλ του υποδεικνύει πως το ίδιο γεγονός μπορεί να ερμηνευθεί με διαφορετικούς τρόπους, μπορεί να υπάρχει σε διαφορετικά επίπεδα και να παίρνει την ανάλογη μορφή. Prague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as " The Metamorphosis" (1916), and posthumously published novels, including The Trial (1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world. The letters offer an insight into Kafka’s genius and are reflective of his works, often filled with paranoia, nervousness, and feelings of isolation. There is a lot of emotion there as well – passion, a need to be loved, jealousy. Here’s an example, “I am jealous of all the people in your letter, those named and those unnamed, men and girls, business people and writers…”

Unrequited infatuation

Yet, Kafka couldn't help but feel disgusted by his father's voracious appetite at the dining table, where crumbs of bread would scatter.

lodgers rents a room in the apartment, and though it is the Samsa household, the family retreats to the kitchen for meals and allows the men the run of the house. When Grete plays violin one evening, and Gregor is drawn to the music, the lodgers spot him for the first time. They refuse to pay any rent and threaten to press charges against Mr. Samsa. If we value our lives, let us abandon it all… I am forever fettered to myself, that’s what I am, and that’s what I must try to live with. Kafka, along with Rilke (I love me a good turn-of-the-century German), was the first "serious" writer I fell in love with (though for the record you'll never see me denigrating a good YA, fantasy, or sci-fi). I came across A Hunger Artist when I was about 10 or 11, and I was captivated. He gets it I thought-- he puts into words what I feel but can't explain! Along with In the Penal Colony I still think Hunger Artist is the greatest short story ever written.Para que lo sepas, mi amor, pienso en ti con tanto amor y devoción como si Dios te hubiera confiado a mí con las más inequívocas palabras." Mañana me pondré a escribir de nuevo, con todas mis fuerzas, cuando no escribo siento como si una mano inflexible me arrojara de la vida a empujones."

Bulgarian novelist Elias Canetti wrote about the correspondence in Kafka's Other Trial: The Letters to Felice. Through a reading of the letters along with sections of The Trial Canetti examined Kafka's struggle between a comfortable middle-class life and individual isolation. That said, the lengthy introduction by Heller is one of the most powerfully insightful pieces of critical writing on Kafka I've come across and it should not be missed. I actually think, counterintuitively, Kafka would make an excellent partner. He gives great credit to Felice's intelligence, wit, and education, and above all else sees her as an equal in every way (and bear in mind, these letters were written in the early 1910s, where that certainly wasn't a default). He's constantly concerned with her well-being and places her happiness above his at all times.Kafka ορισμένες φορές έχανε τον έλεγχο των συναισθημάτων του, στην προκειμένη περίπτωση είναι η επιτηδευμένη σοβαροφάνεια του εργασιακού του περιβάλλοντος αυτή που πυροδοτεί την έκρηξή του: On December 11, 1912, Kafka's debut book, Meditation, was published. He sent it to Bauer with a plea: "Please be kind to my poor book! Show the book to as few people as possible." The more than five hundred letters Kafka wrote to Felice - through their breakup, a second engagement in 1917, and their final parting in the fall of that year, when Kafka began to feel the effects of tuberculosis that would eventually claim his life -  reveal the full measure of his inner turmoil as he tried, in vain, to balance his desire for human connection with what he felt were the solitary demands of his craft. Comenzaría así una relación que terminará el día de Navidad de 1917, dos meses después de que Kafka escupe sangre y comienza a entender que su destino está sellado: la tuberculosis lo acechará e implacablemente lo matará el 3 de junio de 1924. Bauer emerges as an unassuming woman from Berlin with aspirations of marriage and family. However, places his writing as a barrier between them – betraying her through his literary pursuits. As for Bauer, she couldn't fathom this peculiar form of treachery. Curious contradictions

When Bauer sent Kafka a photograph of herself with her family, he immediately delved into decoding its meaning. He analysed every element – hand gestures, smiles, shadows, lighting, clothes, and gazes within and beyond the frame. Esta puja nunca cejará y ahondará el conflicto. Kafka, completamente fuera de control presionará con sus palabras una y otra vez a Felice quien por momentos no entiende cuál es el punto al que el escritor quiere llegar. Felice των επιστολών και της αλληλογραφίας και η πραγματική Felice, από σάρκα και οστά, υπήρξαν κατά το μεγαλύτερο διάστημα της σχέσης τους δύο διαφορετικά, ξεχωριστά πρόσωπα. Όταν μετά από απανωτούς χωρισμούς και συμφιλιώσεις κατάφεραν να γίνουν ένα, εκείνος αρρώστησε. Milena Jesenská, Πράγα, τέλη Μαρτίου 1922, συνδέει τα φαντάσματα - δαίμονες με την επιστολογραφία και κατ' επέκταση με όλες αυτές τις χάρτινες σχέσεις τις οποίες αδυνατούσε να διαχειριστεί στον πραγματικό κόσμο (αυτόν τον οποίο αντιπροσωπεύει η Felice):

in any case, what business have my hands to write letters if all they are made for and all they want is to hold you ! (Olivie Blake has a quote like this in "Alone w you in the ether", she thought I wouldn't notice, but I did girl!! Kafka fans, let me hear you) News of Bauer's marriage reached Kafka through his correspondence with a second lover, Milena, whose letters to Kafka have also been lost to history. An emaciated figure Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors. Kafka ha quedado hechizado de esta simple mujer con prácticamente pocos atributo. No importa: la atracción fue más y lo cautivó. Grete Bloch - με την οποία παρεμπιπτόντως ο Kafka διέπραξε επιστολική απιστία απέναντι στη Felice, κάτι το οποίο οδήγησε στα γεγονότα του Askanischer Hof hotel, εκεί όπου οι δύο γυναίκες τον συνάντησαν και του κατέβασαν καντήλια και επτάφωτες λυχνίες - 8 Ιουνίου 1914) αναφέρει: