Status Updates From رسائل إلى ميلينا

He spends like 3 letters just outlining the dreams he has about her. Also things are starting to ramp up, if she was unaware of his feelings before they’re starting to be undeniable now

« Hier, je t’ai conseillé de ne pas m’écrire chaque jour ; je n’ai pas changé d’avis, ce serait très bon pour nous deux, et je te le conseille encore, et j’y insiste même encore plus ;

Seulement, Milena, ne m’écoute pas, je t’en prie ; écris-moi quand même tous les jours, tu n’as pas besoin d’en mettre bien long (…)

strongly want to dnf this lol

why am I blushing

acabei de começar e já parti o meu próprio coração

Prag, 12. Juli 1920
Montag

Das waren zumindest zwei entsetzliche Tage. Aber jetzt sehe ich dass Du ganz unschuldig daran bist, irgendein boshafter Teufel hat alle Deine Briefe von Donnerstag an zurückgehalten. Freitag bekam ich nur Dein Telegramm, Samstag nichts, Sonntag nichts, heute 4 Briefe - von Donnerstag Freitag Samstag. Ich bin zu müde um eigentlich schreiben zu können,

Fortsetzung im Kommentar

Prag, 10.7.1920

Das ist schlimm, vorgestern kamen die zwei unglücklichen Briefe, gestern nur das Telegramm (es war zwar beruhigend, aber schien doch auch ein wenig zusammengeflickt wie eben Telegramme sind) und heute gar nichts. Und jene Briefe waren doch nicht sehr trostreich für mich, in keiner Hinsicht, und es hieß dort, dass Du gleich wieder schreiben wirst und Du hast nicht geschrieben...

Weiter im Kommentar

He’s a little freaky lowkey but still overall very romantic (in an incredibly hopeless way)

Kafka si traía cositas mal

And what if I told you I already cried this early on

:(

Jumping right into another book I need to chase the high of Animal Farm with something that might ruin me

Who knew Kafka had such rizz

Thinking about the phrase “…irrefutable proof for your being the you I carry sealed in my innermost self”

Hay algunas cosas que digo claro que yes, que viva la intensidad, pero luego el dice “ni si quiera se le podría decir traición si nos juntamos porque tu esposo no es ni mi amigo ni mi compadre” y me hace darme cuenta por que Kafka se la pasaba tan mal 💀

La descrizione delle case come quella degli uffici in “Il processo”.

hes so funny and down bad

“[L]iving authors have a living connection with their books. With their very existence they fight for or against them. The real independent life of the book begins only after the death of the writer, or, more correctly, some time after his death, for these eager men still go on fighting awhile for their book beyond their death. Then, however, it is alone and can rely only on the strength of its own heartbeat.”

“[A]ll the time I’m trying to convey something unconveyable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell of something which I have in my bones and which can be experienced only in these bones. Fundamentally it’s perhaps nothing but that fear of which we have already talked so often, but fear extended to everything, fear of the greatest as of the smallest—”

[Cont’d]

“You say, Milena, that you don’t understand it. Try to understand it by calling it illness. It’s one of the many manifestations of illness which psychoanalysis believes it has uncovered. I don’t call it illness and I consider the therapeutic part of psychoanalysis to be a hopeless error. All these so-called illnesses, sad as they may appear, are matters of faith,”

[Cont’d]

“Yes, torturing is extremely important to me, I’m preoccupied with nothing but being tortured and torturing. … The stupidity inherent in this (realization of stupidity doesn’t help) I once expressed as follows: “The animal wrenches the whip from the master and whips itself so as to become master, and doesn’t realize…”

[Cont’d]

“I’ve spent all afternoon in the streets, wallowing in the Jew-baiting. “Prasivé plemeno”—“filthy rabble” I heard someone call the Jews the other day. Isn’t it the natural thing to leave the place where one is hated so much? (For this, Zionism or national feeling is not needed.) The heroism which consists of staying on in spite of it all is that of cockroaches…”

[Cont’d]

“I’m reading a Chinese book, “bubácká kniha”. I mention it because it’s concerned exclusively with death. A man lies on his death-bed and in the independence given him by the proximity of death, he says: “I’ve spent my life trying to fight lust and to put an end to it.” Then a pupil mocks his teacher who speaks of nothing but death:”

[Cont’d]

i was feeling utterly terrible, then i read kafka yearning and dying and i'm feeling even more terrible but in solidarity

bought this as a present for passing theory because I’ve wanted to read it for years and not me getting emotional on the train home and having to put it down because it’s already so emotional and beautiful

Prag, 10.7.1920
Sa

Das ist schlimm, vorgestern kamen die zwei unglücklichen Briefe, gestern nur das Telegramm (es war zwar beruhigend, aber schien doch auch ein wenig zusammengeflickt wie eben Telegramme sind) und heute gar nichts. Und jene Briefe waren doch nicht sehr trostreich für mich, in keiner Hinsicht, und es hieß dort, dass Du gleich wieder schreiben wirst und Du hast nicht geschrieben.
FORTS. IM KOMMENTAR

“Lonely imperfection has to be endured through every moment, imperfection shared by two does not have to be endured. Hasn’t one got eyes to tear them out and a heart for the same purpose? And yet it isn’t so bad, it’s all an exaggeration and a lie, everything is an exaggeration, only the longing is true, this cannot be exaggerated.”

[Cont’d]

“I’m dirty, Milena, infinitely dirty, which is why I make so much fuss about purity. No people sing with such pure voices as those who live in deepest hell; what we take for the song of angels is their song.”

I can’t help wondering what Kafka’s feelings would be on Zionism today. I guess simply being able to understand the question would completely change his life…

“I won’t meddle in the fight between you and Max [Brod, always an active Zionist]. I stand aside, see each one’s point of view, and am safe. You are undoubtedly right in what you say, but now we are changing places.”

[Cont’d]

« Je voulais me distinguer à tes yeux, montrer de la force de caractère, attendre pour t’écrire, régler d’abord un papier d’affaires, mais la pièce est vide, personne ne s’inquiète de moi, c’est comme si on disait : laissez-le, ne voyez-vous pas comme il est plein de son sujet ? il en éclate.