Paula’s Reviews > Letters to Milena > Status Update

“You have slept
peacefully, even if somewhat "oddly," even if yesterday you
were still "out of sorts" —nonetheless your sleep was peaceful.
So when sleep passes over me in the night, I know where it is
headed and accept this.”

“Most
of the time it is amazing and on those occasions when it does
falter, the German language becomes pliant just for you, of its
own accord, and then it is particularly beautiful, something a
German doesn't even dare hope for; a German wouldn't dare
write so personally. But I wanted to read you in Czech because,
after all, you do belong to that language, because only there can
Milena be found in her entirety”

“The lovers never really recovered the
four days spent in Vienna; these letters were their only progeny. And the ghosts consumed any consolation”