Letters to Milena

Franz Kafka and Milena Pollak are among the great literary lovers and were one of the most fascinating couples of their times. Kafka wooed the Czech journalist throughout 1920 over dozens of letters, yet sought to avoid meeting her in person in Vienna. In the end, however, those few days together proved a delight. A second rendezvous, also long procrastinated, marked the beginning of the end of their happines – the passion of ink on paper couldn’t stand up to reality. All that is now left of this unusual relationship are Kafka’s Letters to Milena, which still have the power to move us, over a century later. This collection features some of the loveliest and most intimate passages, rounded off with commentary and an afterword by Harald Salfellner to complete the picture.