Kafka in Love

by Jacqueline Raoul-Duval

Genres: Biographical; Literary Fiction

Synopsis

Kafka was an attractive, slender, and elegant man--something of a dandy, who captivated his friends and knew how to charm women. He seemed to have had four important love affairs: Felice, Julie, Milena, and Dora. All of them lived far away, in Berlin or Vienna, and perhaps that's one of the reasons that he loved them: he chose long-distance relationships so he could have the pleasure of writing to them, without the burden of having to live with them. He was engaged to all four women, and four times he avoided marriage. At the end of each love affair, he threw himself into his writing and produced some of his most famous novels: Amerika, The Trial, and The Castle.
   In this charming book, author Jacqueline Raoul-Duval follows the paper trail of Kafka's ardor. She uses his voice in her own writing, and a third of the book is pulled from Kafka's journals. It is the perfect introduction to this giant of world literature, and captures his life and romances in a style worthy of his own.

Release date: November 13, 2012

Publisher: Other Press

Print pages: 208

Sample

   One day as Franz entered through the gates of the park, he saw a young girl sobbing. He walked up to her. She was one of those little blond flowers with white skin and red cheeks that grow so abundantly in these parts. He asked her:
   “Why are you crying?”
   “I’ve lost my doll.”
   “You haven’t lost it,” he says.
   “Did you find it?”
   “No, no, I didn’t find it. Your doll went off on a trip.”
   “How do you know that?”
   “She wrote me a letter.”
   “Show me.”
   “I left it at home. But if you want, I’ll bring it tomorrow, at three o’clock. In front of this bench.”
   “What’s your name?”
   “Franz. And yours?”
   “Malou.”
   Once back at his house, he asked himself what his sister Ottla would say to her eldest daughter if the child ever lost her doll, Lolotte, which she kept clutched to her heart even in the soundest sleep.
   The following day at the appointed time, Malou and Franz met in front of the bench. He raised his hat in greeting and handed her an envelope, on which he had written her name and stuck a canceled stamp.
   Malou shrugged. “I don’t know how to read.”
He read it for her. The doll ended her letter with the words: “Hugs and kisses, I’ll write you every day.”
   Malou thought for a moment before asking: “Does that mean you’ll bring me another letter tomorrow?”