''Letters to Milena'' is a book collecting some of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

's letters to

Milena Jesenská Milena Jesenská (; 10 August 1896 – 17 May 1944) was a Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator. Early life Jesenská was born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic). Her family is believed to descend from Jan Jesenius, th ...

from 1920 to 1923.

Publication history

The letters were originally published in German in 1952 as ''Briefe an Milena'', edited by

Willy Haas Willy Haas (6 July 1891 – 4 September 1973) was a German editor, film critic, and screenwriter. He wrote for 19 films between 1922 and 1933, and was a member of the jury at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Biography Willy Haas ...

, who decided to delete certain passages which he thought might hurt people who were still alive at the time. The collection was first published in English by

Schocken Books Schocken Books is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that specializes in Jewish literary works. Originally established in 1931 by Salman Schocken as Schocken Verlag in Berlin, the company later moved to Palestine and then the Uni ...

in 1953, translated by Tania and James Stern. A new German edition, restoring the passages Haas had deleted, was published in 1986, followed by a new English translation by

Philip Boehm Philip Boehm (born 1958) is an American playwright, theater director and literary translator. Born in Texas, he was educated at Wesleyan University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the State Academy of Theater in Warsaw, Poland. Boehm i ...

in 1990. This edition includes some of Milena's letters to

Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and biog ...

, as well as four essays by her and an obituary for Kafka.

Quote

The easy possibility of writing letters must have brought wrack and ruin to the souls of the world. Writing letters is actually an intercourse with ghosts, and by no means just the ghost of the addressee but also with one's own ghost, which secretly evolves inside the letter one is writing.

References

* Kafka, Franz. ''Letters to Milena''. Translated by Philip Boehm, New York: Schocken Books, 1990. {{Authority control 1952 non-fiction books Essays by Franz Kafka Collections of letters Books published posthumously Schocken Books books