Letters to Milena

The passionate but doomed epistolary love affair between a Czech translator and one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial.

“Extraordinary … touching, horrifying, brilliant, sickly, [and] heartbreaking. … The most significant key we have for a reading of the author’s novels and short stories.”—The New York Times

In no other work does Franz Kafka reveal himself as in Letters to Milena, which begins as a business correspondence but soon develops into an epistolary love affair. Kafka’s Czech translator, Milena Jesenská, was a gifted and charismatic 23-year-old who was uniquely able to recognize Kafka’s complex genius and his even more complex character. For 36-year-old Kafka, she was “a living fire, such as I have never seen.” It was to Milena that he revealed his most intimate self and, eventually, entrusted his diaries for safekeeping.

©1990 English translation by Schocken Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC (P)2026 Recorded Books

Solid Narration, Different Tone Than Expected

In my opinion, Kafka’s letters work best with a more understated, even melancholic delivery. This narration leans a bit more expressive at times, which slightly changes the tone for me. Others may enjoy that style, but I found a calmer approach lets the writing come through more clearly.