Franz Kafka’s signature in a letter to Milena Jesenská. It reads:
Franz wrong, F wrong, Yours wrong
nothing more, calm, deep forestPrague
July 29, 1920.
In 1919, Milena Jesenská was working as a translator. She discovered a short story (The Stoker) by Prague writer Franz Kafka, and wrote him to ask for permission to translate it from German to Czech. The letter launched an intense and increasingly passionate correspondence. Jesenská and Kafka met twice: they spent four days in Vienna and later a day in Gmünd. Eventually Kafka broke off the relationship, partly because Jesenská was unable to leave her husband, and their almost daily communication ceased abruptly in November 1920. They meant so much to each other, however, that they did exchange a few more letters in 1922 and 1923 (and Kafka turned over to Jesenská his diaries at the end of his life). Kafka is regarded by critics as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. It is generally agreed that Kafka suffered from clinical depression and social anxiety throughout his entire life. (Source: Wiki)
Source: Journal of a Nobody
Whoa. Heart-wrenching. And I hate it when I find myself rooting for the the “wrong” scenario. But such is the emotional tug of such things …
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Yes. I hear you. Powerful few words.
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I suppose there is no ‘sign off’ that can capture the writer’s heart and the reader’s soul when in those words so much is yearning to be understood.
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Yes, and it appears he struggled with exactly that Mimi
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Incredible how just a few words can be fraught with such meaning….
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So true Lori. You can feel his angst.
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Every quote, every letter has a universe of its own which is unknown to a reader because we can only wonder about the reason and meaning behind.
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Exactly….
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