#milena jesenská

[metamorphesque]

— Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

[lifeinpoetry]

... I think that I deserve to be hit in the face for speaking beyond the present moment, this moment, which belongs to you.

—  Franz Kafka, from Letters to Milena

[amtskind]

@sepulkralkreatur and i binge-watched the new kafka biopic-series, produced by german television. and i got to say - i loved it so much.

it combined the littlest details from kafka's life and also his aftermath, with his literary work - which often was linked to certain events. for those who read his work and diaries/biographies, spotting all the little references was very fun. and one of my most favourite things was probably the narrator with the reoccurring break of the fourth wall - as well as the music and collage-esque animations.

every episode was told through the perspective of significant people from kafka's life and dealt with a certain theme:

- as well as a 7th bonus-episode "kafka and me", which was more of a documental biography take with interviews, with a dog narrating the scenario and kafka's impact on our society.

joel basman did a great job at portraying franz kafka. the voice, the laugh and facial expressions being awkward all were very fitting and closing the hole, that we as readers experience towards kafka as a person.

the non-linear series served the exact atmosphere, that i associate with kafka: tragedy, humour, and the absurd. daniel kehlmann and david schalko did a great job on writing it. chapeau!

more posts about this series:

comparison of the actors and their roles

intro animations

scene: kafka at the yiddish theater

scene: kafka laughing

franz, dora and their shadow-play

kafka's literary works in the series

[griefyards]

excerpts from franz kafka's letters to milena.

[wotchergiorgia]

prague, tuesday 17th august 1920

franz kafka, letters to milena

[text ID: do not let yourself be scared away from me - if it is at all possible in this unsteady world (where, when one is torn away, one is simply torn away and can't do anything about it) - even if I disappoint you once or a thousand times or right now or perhaps always right now.]

[evadneares]

"I want in fact more of you. In my mind I am dressing you with light; I am wrapping you up in blankets of complete acceptance and then I give myself to you. I long for you; I who usually long without longing, as though I am unconscious and absorbed in neutrality and apathy, really, utterly long for every bit of you."

Franz Kafka, "Letters to Milena"

[marydarkblacknoir]

Milena, if a million loved you, I am one of them, and if one loved you, it was me, if no one loved you then know that I am dead.

Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

[selenepluto]

Franz Kafka, Letters To Milena

[ghoulierstudio]

Oct 22

[jupteur]

past lives (2023) dir. celine song // letters to milena by franz kafka

[iishtar]

He was too clairvoyant, too intelligent to be capable of living, and too weak to fight. He was weak the way noble, beautiful people are, people incapable of struggling against their fear of misunderstanding, malice or intellectual deceit because they recognize their own helplessness in advance; their submission only shames the victor. He understood people as only someone of great and nervous sensitivity can, someone who is alone, someone who can recognize others in a flash, almost like a prophet. He was an artist and a man of such anxious conscience he could hear even where others, deaf, felt themselves secure.

Milena Jesenská’s obituary for Franz Kafka, Národní Listy, June 6, 1924

[metamorphesque]

— Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

[erunderovercast]

Letters to Milena

F. Kafka

[amtskind]

"kafka" (2024) - the series compared

more about this kafka-biopic in linked post.

joel basman as franz kafka

david kross as max brod

tobias bamborschke as oskar baum

robert stadtlober as felix weltsch

nicholas ofczarek as hermann kafka, franz kafka's father

marie-lou sellem as julie kafka, franz kafka's mother

maresi riegner as ottilie "ottla" kafka

mariam avaliani as gabriele "elli" kafka

naemi latzer as valerie "valli" kafka

[ilovehomer]

From Franz Kafka’s Letters to Milena

[evadneares]

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, "Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld" (1861)

"...and here I am just like I was in Vienna and your hand is in my own as long as you leave it there."

Franz Kafka, "Letters to Milena"