[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Rereading 'Kafka's Love Letters' on the 140th Anniversary of His Birth (Part 1)

I enjoy reading collections of letters or diaries. The letters and diaries we write are usually meant to be read only by our lovers or ourselves. Since they are written on the premise that no one else will read them, sincere emotions inevitably come through. That is why diaries reflect a person's inner landscape so vividly. Diaries are often called prayers directed toward the self.

This year marks the 140th anniversary of Franz Kafka (1883?1924). As a Kafka scholar, I have been pondering since the beginning of the year what would be a good topic to write about in commemoration of this anniversary. Since Max Brod’s “Kafka Biography” was recently translated and published, I considered writing in detail about Kafka’s relationship with Brod.

Franz Kafka in 1923, one year before his death. [Photo by Wikipedia]

Then, as autumn deepened, I concluded that it would be better to talk about Kafka’s love letters. Among the many experiences a person has in a lifetime, is there anything more valuable than love? Moreover, Kafka is celebrated as one of the three great novelists of the 20th century.

Four women appear in Kafka’s 41 years of life. Felice Bauer, who was engaged twice but both engagements ended in broken engagements; Julie Wohryzek, whom he wanted to marry but could not because she was Jewish; Dora Diamant, his last love who held Kafka’s hand as he coughed up blood on his sickbed; and the journalist Milena Jesensk?.

The love letters were written between 1920 and 1923. The recipient was the famous journalist, writer, and translator Milena Jesensk?. Milena lived in Vienna, the capital of Austria, while Kafka was convalescing in Meran, Czechoslovakia, due to tuberculosis. Kafka was thirty-seven years old, and Milena was twenty-three. Milena was married and living in Vienna, but her marriage was falling apart due to her husband’s infidelity.

Milena Ejzenska. [Photo by Wikipedia]

The two met when Milena translated Kafka’s German works into Czech. Kafka could speak and read Czech but found writing in it difficult. Having attended schools and university where German?the language of the Austrian ruling class?was used, he always wrote in German.

In 1919, Milena sent a letter to Kafka in Prague asking for permission to translate his works into Czech, which sparked their relationship. In October of the same year, Kafka met Milena at a caf? in Prague. From April 1920, they began exchanging letters. Initially, they mainly discussed translation, but Kafka became captivated by Milena’s intellect, and their relationship developed into a romance. They even had secret meetings in Gm?nd, a border town between Austria and Czechoslovakia. Although they exchanged letters, Kafka sent far more letters to Milena. Their relationship lasted three years before ending. Milena kept all of Kafka’s letters without discarding any. Eight months after their breakup, in June 1924, when Kafka passed away from tuberculosis, Milena published a eulogy in a Prague newspaper?a distinguished tribute only she could write.

Let us briefly recall a scene from the 20th century. In September 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed. The leaders of Britain, France, and Italy, terrified by Hitler’s power, signed an agreement to cede the Sudetenland, a border region, to Germany as Hitler demanded. Upon returning to London, British Prime Minister Chamberlain waved the agreement document and declared that peace had finally come to Europe, prompting cheers from British newspapers and citizens. However, before the ink on the Munich Agreement dried, in early 1939, Germany invaded Prague.

In March 1939, Adolf Hitler is reviewing troops in front of the main gate of Prague Castle. [Photo by Wikipedia]

Just before the German invasion, a rush to escape Prague occurred, especially among Jews. Milena met journalist Willy Haas, an acquaintance planning to flee Prague. The next day, Milena sent Haas a paper box containing bundles of letters by courier. Out of curiosity, Haas opened the bundle and read a few letters.

“But soon I closed the bundle again. It felt as if I had touched a piece of glowing hot iron. Despair, the anguish of love, tormented love, the blazing light of submission and curses seemed to pierce my heart. As a mere individual, I felt that peering into such deep secrets of another person was utterly unforgivable. I sealed the bundle.”

Willy Haas’s final destination was India. Just before escaping Prague, he entrusted the letter box to a close relative with earnest requests.

Shortly after the German army occupied Prague, Milena joined the underground resistance to oppose Nazi Germany. However, she was soon arrested and died in Ravensbr?ck concentration camp in May 1944.

After World War II ended, when Willy Haas returned to Prague, his relative returned the letter box that had been kept for over six years. How relieved and joyful Haas must have been to receive Kafka’s bundle of letters back.

Image of Franz Kafka engraved on a mug cup.
Photo by Seonggwan Jo

At this point, we naturally recall Yun Dong-ju. After graduating from Yeonhui College, Yun Dong-ju went to study in Japan in 1942 and gifted a handwritten poetry collection titled “Sky, Wind, Star, and Poem” to his junior, Jeong Byeong-wook. Before being drafted, Jeong asked his mother to carefully preserve the poetry manuscript. When Yun’s younger brother Il-ju came down from Manchuria to Seoul to find Jeong, Jeong handed over the poetry collection that his mother had kept. This was the moment when the unknown Yun Dong-ju was born as a poet.

Willy Haas took the bundle of letters to the publishing house that had published Kafka’s books and contacted Kafka’s close friend Max Brod, who was staying in Tel Aviv. With Brod’s advice, the edited collection of letters, “Briefe an Milena (Letters to Milena),” was published in Prague in 1952. The collection includes the excerpt of Willy Haas’s impressions quoted earlier.

“I actually read these letters in 1947 while staying in London after World War II. It was when I was asked by Schocken Publishing in New York and Max Brod in Tel Aviv to edit these letters for the complete works of Kafka. I felt the same mixture of shivers and ecstasy as eight years before.” (Letters to Milena, Willy Haas)

Professor Park Hwan-deok of Seoul National University’s German Literature Department was researching Kafka’s literature in 1982 as an exchange professor at the University of Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Wuppertal is where Nam June Paik held “Exhibition of Music,” a pioneering media art event, in 1963. Germany takes pride in the fact that Nam June Paik’s media art originated there.

The head of the Prague Literature Research Institute at Wuppertal University, Professor Born, suggested to Professor Park that he visit the Marbach German Literature Archive. Upon hearing that the original “Letters to Milena” were kept there, Professor Park decided to visit Marbach. Marbach is a city in Baden-W?rttemberg and the hometown of Friedrich Schiller, not far from Hermann Hesse’s hometown, Calw.

Marbach German Literature Archive exterior. Photo by Wikipedia

Marbach is quite a distance south from Wuppertal. Upon entering the Marbach German Literature Archive, Professor Park applied to view the “original letters.” This was before manuscripts were digitized into microfilm. Shortly after, the bundle of letters was placed before him. Professor Park described his feelings in the preface to the translated “Letters to Milena.”

“I held a bundle of letters the size of A4 paper, already much discolored, and sat alone in the precious book reading room. I was excited and my heart pounded. A shiver ran through my whole body. Anyone could clearly see Kafka’s handwriting. I was afraid I might leave fingerprints or that the paper might deteriorate and be damaged. I felt as if I were committing a grave sin and looked around nervously. There was nothing in this space except me and the bundle of letters. Yet I had the illusion that Kafka was standing somewhere nearby. Every time I turned a page, I felt as if Kafka was watching me, and I could no longer touch the letters. I sat still for a long time. This was an unforgettable direct encounter with Kafka for me.”

Kafka had a habit of not recording dates but only the day of the week when writing letters. The letters to Milena were the same. Milena discarded the envelopes and kept only the letters bundled together. The biggest challenge for Willy Haas when editing “Letters to Milena” was arranging them in chronological order.

In 1983, a revised edition of “Letters to Milena” was published by Professor Born and Dr. M?ller, the chief researcher at Wuppertal University, 31 years after the first edition. It took that long to confirm the dates when the letters were written.

This collection of letters is regarded in world literary history as the 20th century’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther.” Kafka’s last letter to Milena was written in October 1923?exactly 100 years ago from now. (Part 1)

By Seong-kwan Jo, Writer and Genius Researcher

Operator of 'Genius Table,' Former Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Chosun