Well dearest, the doors are shut, all is quiet, I am with you once more. How many things does 'to be with you' mean by now? I have not slept all day, and while I duly went about all the afternoon and early evening with a heavy head and a befogged brain, now, as night sets in, I am almost excited, feel within me a tremendous desire to write; the demon inhabiting the writing urge begins to stir at most inopportune moments.
-- Franz Kafka (b. 3 July 1883) Letter to Felice Bauer December 1912
Translated by James Stern and Elizabeth Duckworth
The Diaries of Franz Kafka
