Letters to Felicia (1912–1917)

Franz Kafka's correspondence with his fiancée Felicia Bauer lasted for more than five years, from 1912 to 1917. Twice Kafka proposed to her, and twice she accepted. Relatives on both sides considered the wedding inevitable, and Kafka at this time described his torment in his diary: he longed for solitude and doubted that he would ever be able to marry. In his letters to Felicia, he wrote mainly about himself, about his torments, fears, and desires. Apparently, the real Felicia did not interest Kafka; he was captivated by an invented image, a shadow of a woman. Their wedding never took place. Felicia married someone else, but she kept almost all of Kafka's letters. Her letters to him, unfortunately, have been lost.