Kafka i Felicja. Romans epistolarny
Kafka and Felice. Epistolary Romance

Summary/Abstract: Kafka belongs to the greatest letter writers of the 20th century, but his epistolary prosedoes not enjoy the popularity it deserves. Kafka’s letters present problems in a differentway than his fictional works. They should be read both as a biographical document anda literary text corresponding with the short stories and novels of the author of TheMetamorphosis.The article discusses Kafka’s letters to Felice Bauer, a young woman he loved andwith whom he was twice engaged. In reality this story ended with a disaster, however itsresulted was a remarkable literary text. Elias Canetti called the letters to Felice “the secondTrial”; in fact, this epistolary series resembles a novel in letters rather than writing correspondence,such as the one left by Joyce, Mann or Gombrowicz. It offers a fascinating,extraordinary range of emotional experience, style and deep self-analysis. At the same time,it arouses concern due to obsessiveness, repetitions, helplessness of the hero.

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