Much lauded and influential Czech-born writer (1883-1924) whose man-turned-insect story Metamorphosis (1915) and novel The Trial (1925) have earned a permanent and prominent place in the canon of modern literature. Sought-after hand-addressed mailing envelope, 6 x 4, addressed by Kafka to his fiancée, “Fraulein, Felice Bauer, Frankfurt 9/M, Hotel Monopol-Metropole,” signed on the reverse with his return address, "Abs. Dr. F. Kafka, Prag Poric 7.” Bauer's address has been struck through and corrected in another hand. Postmarked at Prague, April 19, 1913. In fine condition.
Kafka met Felice Bauer for the first time in August 1912 at a dinner hosted by his friend Max Brod, and he soon began to send her letters almost daily. These were eventually collected and published as Letters to Felice. Lasting from September 1912 to October 1917, Kafka’s correspondence with Bauer overlapped with his writing The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and the beginning of his work on The Trial. Despite two engagements during their period of correspondence, Kafka and Bauer would never marry. Few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime, and he passed away in obscurity from tuberculosis at age 40. His autograph is thus exceptionally rare and of the utmost desirability.
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