FAMOUS LOVE LETTERS OF TEN PROMINENT PERSONS

FAMOUS LOVE LETTERS OF 

TEN PROMINENT PERSONS

பலருக்கு காதலிக்க தெரியும். ஆனால், சிலருக்கு தான், காதல் கடிதம் எழுத தெரியும். காதலியை கவரும் விதத்தில் கடிதம் எழுதுவது ஒரு கலை.
காதலியாக இருக்கும்போது தான், கடிதம் எழுதணும்ன்னு அவசியம் கிடையாது. அன்பான மனைவிக்கும், வாழ்நாள் முழுவதும், காதல் வாசகங்களை கொட்டி, கடிதம் எழுத முடியும். காதல் கடிதத்திற்கு, கவர்ந்து இழுக்கும் சக்தி அதிகம்; ஈர்ப்பு அதிகம்.
இந்த வகையில், உலகின் மிகச்சிறந்த, 10 காதல் கடிதங்கள் என, சிலவற்றை தேர்வு செய்து வெளியிட்டுள்ளது; அயல்நாட்டு காப்பீட்டு நிறுவனம். அது:
1. அமெரிக்காவின், பிரபல நாட்டுப்புற பாடகர், ஜான்கேஷ் என்பவர், தன் மனைவி ஜுனே கார்டரின், 65வது பிறந்த நாளையொட்டி, அவருக்கு, 1994ல் எழுதிய கடிதம், மிகச்சிறந்த காதல் கடிதமாக, முதல் இடத்தை பெற்றுள்ளது.
2. பிரிட்டன் முன்னாள் பிரதமர், வின்ஸ்டன் சர்ச்சில், தன் மனைவி மீது மிகுந்த அன்பு கொண்டவர். இதை வெளிப்படுத்தும் விதமாக, மனைவி கிவ்மென்டினுக்கு, 1935ல் எழுதிய, கடிதம் மிகவும் பிரபலம்.
3. ஆங்கில கவிஞர் ஜான்கீட்ஸ், 1819ல், தன் பக்கத்து வீட்டில் வசித்த பெண், பிரவுனுக்கு எழுதிய, 'நீ இல்லாமல் என்னால் வாழ முடியாது' என்ற கடிதம்.

4. அமெரிக்காவின் பிரபல எழுத்தாளர், ஏர்னெஸ்ட் ஹெமிங்வே, 1951ல், தன்னுடைய காதலை, மார்லின் டைடிரிச்சுக்கு வெளிப்படுத்திய கடிதம்.
5. பிரெஞ்சு படையின் தளபதியாக, நெப்போலியன் இருந்த காலகட்டத்தில், தனக்கு அந்த பொறுப்பை வாங்கிக் கொடுத்த, பால்பேரசின் மனைவி ஜோசப்பினையே மணந்தார். அதற்கு முன், அவருக்கு, காதல் கடிதம் எழுதிய நெப்போலியன், அதை, காதல் ரசனை சொட்ட சொட்ட எழுத, 1796ல் மிகவும் பிரபலமானது.

6. நடிகர் ரிச்சர்ட் பர்ட்டன், நடிகை எலிசபெத் டெய்லரின் அழகை வர்ணித்து, 1964ல் எழுதிய கடிதம், 'ஆஹா' போட வைத்தது.
7. இங்கிலாந்து மன்னர் எட்டாம் ஹென்றி, ஆனிபோலியனுக்கு, 1527ல் எழுதிய கடிதம் ரம்யமானது.
8. ஜெர்மன் பெத்தோவென், இசையமைப்பாளர் மற்றும் பியானோ வாசிப்பவர். இவர், தன்னுடைய நிரந்தர, மானசீக காதலிக்கு, 1812ல் எழுதிய கடிதம் பிரபலம். இந்த காதலி, உண்மையில் யார் என்பது கடைசி வரை கண்டுபிடிக்கப்படாமல், மர்மத்திலேயே முடிவுக்கு வந்தது.
9. அமெரிக்காவின், 38வது ஜனாதிபதி, ஜெரால்ட் போர்டு, தன் மனைவி பெட்டி போர்டு, 1924ல், மார்பக புற்றுநோயால் அவதிப்பட்டபோது, தானும், தன்னுடைய குடும்பமும் அவர் மீது கொண்டுள்ள அன்பை வெளிப்படுத்தி எழுதிய கடிதம்.
10. அமெரிக்காவின் பிரபல கிதார் வாசிப்பாளரான, ஜிம்மி ஹென்டிரிக்ஸ், 1968ல், தனக்கு பெண் குழந்தை பிறந்ததும், அதை வாழ்த்தி எழுதிய கடிதம். இவர், 32 வயது வரை தான் வாழ்ந்தார்.


In today's digital age, writing love letters can feel like a prehistoric practice. (These days, the closest you'll likely get to a romantic note is a 2 A.M. text that says: "U Up?") But despite our unfamiliarity with this very charming gesture, there was once a time when writing love letters was the most chivalrous way to win someone over. (Just look at Noah from The Notebook for proof.) Luckily, the Internet has become a home for many of these storied works; but as with most things, not all love letters are created equal. There's a certain quality to the long-forgotten romantic letter that some just got right. So, to show the world how it's done, we've rounded up the 10 most romantic love letters of all time, from Ernest Hemingway's sweet notes to his best friend Marlene Dietrich, to Frida Kahlo in her steamy writings to husband Diego Rivera. Here: A master class in affectionate prose.

1. Ernest Hemingway to Marlene Dietrich

Nobel Prize-winning American novelist Ernest Hemingway was a prolific, confident writer, but in his letters to actress Marlene Dietrich, he shows a more vulnerable side. Hemingway wrote Dietrich, his best friend, approximately 30 letters between 1949 to 1959, but as Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva, explains in a New York Times article, the two were merely close friends, (though his words seem to reveal a much more flirtatious relationship).

"I can't say how every time I ever put my arms around you I felt that I was home," he writes.

2. Napoleon to Joséphine

While known for his ruthlessness, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte also possessed a softer side. In letters to his wife, Joséphine, the military leader reveals a vulnerability not found in his autocratic approach to expanding the French empire. And while he later divorced her when she could not have children, Napoleon continued to write to Joséphine for years after their separation. In one particular letter, penned while Napoleon was commanding the French army near Italy a few months after their marriage, he expresses, quite romantically, how much he misses his wife.

"Since I left you, I have been constantly depressed. My happiness is to be near you. Incessantly I live over in my memory your caresses, your tears, your affectionate solicitude. The charms of the incomparable Joséphine kindle continually a burning and a glowing flame in my heart. When, free from all solicitude, all harassing care, shall I be able to pass all my time with you, having only to love you, and to think only of the happiness of so saying, and of proving it to you?"

3. Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera

It's no secret that Frida Kahlo and her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, had a tempestuous relationship, but in her love letters to Rivera, you see only an intense love. Kahlo's letters to Rivera stretch across the twenty-seven-year span of the couple's relationship, and underscore the unmistakable connection (however frenzied) the two shared. In one letter from The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, Kahlo points to that deep, emotional intimacy.

"Nothing compares to your hands, nothing like the green-gold of your eyes. My body is filled with you for days and days. You are the mirror of the night. The violent flash of lightning. The dampness of the earth. The hollow of your armpits is my shelter. My fingers touch your blood. All my joy is to feel life spring from your flower-fountain that mine keeps to fill all the paths of my nerves which are yours."




4. Georgia O'Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz

Another artist who excelled at writing spicy love letters: famed painter, Georgia O'Keeffe. Over the course of her 30-year romance with celebrated photographer Alfred Stieglitz, O'Keeffe exchanged more than 5,000 letters (that's roughly 25,000 pages) on everything from the mundane ongoings of her daily life to some of her more passionate encounters with Stieglitz. In all, the letters show a far more seductive side to the artist than her flowery paintings may initially suggest.

"Dearest — my body is simply crazy with wanting you — If you don't come tomorrow — I don't see how I can wait for you — I wonder if your body wants mine the way mine wants yours — the kisses — the hotness — the wetness — all melting together — the being held so tight that it hurts — the strangle and the struggle."

5. Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved"

While the identity of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” to whom the iconic composer and pianist wrote a number of letters in 1812, is still largely a mystery, the letters themselves paint a very vivid picture. Many historians believe Beethoven's "Beloved" to have been a diplomat’s daughter, named Antonie Brentano, to whom the composer dedicated his "Diabelli Variations Op. 120." In one of his letters found after his death, he famously wrote:

"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm-love me-today-yesterday-what tearful longings for you-you-you-my life-my all-farewell. Oh continue to love me-never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours."

6. George H. Bush to Barbara Bush

Perhaps one of the most romantic love letters of all time was written by late U.S. President George H. Bush to his wife, Barbara. In 1942, on the heels of World War II, Bush enlisted in the Navy, and while stationed overseas, wrote letters to both his parents and then-girlfriend, Barbara Pierce of Rye, New York. To this day, only one love letter to Barbara remains from the former president's time overseas, as Barbara reportedly lost the majority of her letters in a move after the pair were married. In the surviving letter, Bush joyfully explains how he envisions the couple's future, and describes how "lucky" their future children will be.

"This should be a very easy letter to write — words should come easily and in short it should be simple for me to tell you how desperately happy I was to open the paper and see the announcement of our engagement, but somehow I can't possibly say all in a letter I should like to. I love you, precious, with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life. How often I have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. How lucky our children will be to have a mother like you..."

7. Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan

Another former politician whose romantic writings are worth mentioning: 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. In a letter to his wife, Nancy, in 1972, prior to their 20th anniversary, Reagan (who, at the time and prior to his presidency, was serving as the Governor of California) penned a romantic note to his wife expressing his undying love for her, and explaining that he never wants to leave her side.

"The important thing is I don't want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are. I've gotten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed."

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8. Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas

In June of 1891, Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, a then-21-year-old Oxford undergraduate and talented poet, who would come to be the author’s muse and lover. In fact, it was during the course of their affair that Wilde wrote Salomé and the four great plays which, to this day, are the cornerstone of his literary legacy. The relationship, though, was often ridiculed, given the time period. Heartbreakingly, the duo had to speak secretively, despite how strongly Wilde felt about Douglas.

"Everyone is furious with me for going back to you, but they don't understand us. I feel that it is only with you that I can do anything at all. Do remake my ruined life for me, and then our friendship and love will have a different meaning to the world. I wish that when we met at Rouen we had not parted at all. There are such wide abysses now of space and land between us. But we love each other."

9. Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

The King of England for 38 years, Henry VIII wrote his lover, Anne Boleyn, a collection of secret, romantic letters which still survive today. Despite being known as a despotic ruler, the letters reveal a softer side to monarch frequently viewed as relentless. The king's strong feelings for Boleyn are on full display throughout the entirety of his notes.

"But if you please to do the office of a true loyal mistress and friend, and to give up yourself body and heart to me, who will be, and have been, your most loyal servant, (if your rigour does not forbid me) I promise you that not only the name shall be given you, but also that I will take you for my only mistress, casting off all others besides you out of my thoughts and affections, and serve you only. I beseech you to give an entire answer to this my rude letter, that I may know on what and how far I may depend. And if it does not please you to answer me in writing, appoint some place where I may have it by word of mouth, and I will go thither with all my heart. No more, for fear of tiring you."

10. Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf

Celebrated writer Virginia Woolf and English poet Vita Sackville-West exchanged a series of love letters to each another that were, unsurprisingly, beautifully written. But it was perhaps a letter from Vita, sent from Milan on January 21, 1927, that offers the clearest, most unguarded, glimpse into their affair. Unlike Woolf's flowery, ornate prose, West is far more straightforward: "I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way."

"I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. You, with all your undumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn’t even feel it. And yet I believe you’ll be sensible of a little gap. But you’d clothe it in so exquisite a phrase that it should lose a little of its reality. Whereas with me it is quite stark: I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal. So this letter is really just a squeal of pain. It is incredible how essential to me you have become. I suppose you are accustomed to people saying these things. Damn you, spoilt creature; I shan’t make you love me any more by giving myself away like this — But oh my dear, I can’t be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly. You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don’t love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defenses. And I don’t really resent it."