Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter. Your critical comments about my
writing are long overdue. My initial reaction was to ask
myself how I could rewrite this chapter to your standards.
It occurred to me then that it was not my exposition that
offended you, but the flatness and shallowness of Dorothea's
life as it was reflected in her account and reflected in turn
in the style of my exposition, and perhaps properly so. The
vibrancy of Dorothea's responses to Doehring on the Boston-
Toronto flight was the expression of Dorothea's feminist
commitment.  Once her encounter with Doehring and his
existentialist propaganda had undermined her feminist resolve,
the pathetic barrenness of her intellect and spirit, of her
relationship to Edmund and her marriage to him, could no
longer be concealed. I stand by my satire of the ideological
psychiatry which precipitated Dorothea's divorce.

I was startled when I reread the following exchange,
in response to Dorothea's account of her life:

Dorothea schwieg, und Doehring, weil er fuehlte, dasz
weitere Erklaerungen vielleicht ueber Dorotheas Kraefte gingen,
fuegte erlaeuternd hinzu, "Ich denke da solltest du der
Gesellschaft klar machen, dasz die Stellung der Frau in ihr eine
ungerechte ist, und das Glueck der Frauen nicht laenger dem
Machthunger der Maenner geopfert werden soll."  "Glauben Sie
das?" fragte Dorothea.  "Nein, wohl nicht," sagte Doehring kurz.
"Warum sagtest du es dann?"  "Ich meinte die Stellung der
Frauenfreiheitsbewegung zusammenzufassen.  Ich dachte dir die
Muehe der weiteren Aussprache zu ersparen." 

In these comments, Doehring suggests to Dorothea that she
take up the feminist cause once more. But absent Doehring's
endorsement, she is unable to do so. Here is a peripateia:
this was her opportunity to try to persuade Doehring of her
convictions, and had she been able to do so, the novel would
have turned in a different direction. In order to cement his
relationship to her, Doehring might have abandoned his selfish
introverted individualism, might have become a reformer, an
advocate for abortion rights, universal health care, or any
number of other causes congenial to Dorothea. He might have
given up his scholarly pursuits for an administrative position
in Move-On.org, the ACLU, or some other liberal organization.
Arguably then Doehring and Dorothea would have lived happily
ever after. It would have turned into a very different story,
a very different novel.

Thank you also for your comments about yourself. Living is
itself an art, at which you have worked very diligently;
and as I have said before, I contemplate with respect and
awe what you have accomplished. If it's not impudent of me
to say so, I read your autobiographical notes as evidence of
strength rather than of weakness. My parents were assiduous
in expressing regret: If only we had done this, or if only
we had done that. In response I have tried to teach my family
never to regret a past decision, to accept it, - and I hope
the piety does not offend you, - as a decision or an act of
God, - an interpretation which is quite consistent with my
denial of "free will." To regret the past, if regret is not
mere rhetoric, is in effect to curse the past, to curse what
is holy and divine: and cursing the divine is what I consider
the unforgivable sin.  I understand well that your life hasn't
always been easy, and if my letters have meaning to you, I'm
grateful to have the opportunity to take my place on the
periphery of your existence.

I would also be much interested in reading anything that Micha
has written, in English, in German, - and I would even make
a try at reading in Dutch, - whatever might be conveniently
accessed or transferred on the Internet.  

As for our correspondence, while, as I have explained, for
reasons of cerebral efficiency, I want to compose my replies
to your letters as soon as I read them, it's quite practical
for me to hold what I write and to mail my letters to you
according to some mutually agreed upon schedule, - so that
you might have time to put your apartment in order.
Jochen