Dear Marion,

Your observation that the German of Die Andere is not modern
German but "classical" was made by years ago by my friend
Helmut Frielinghaus, the editor, critic and would be publisher,
when he first read the manuscript. I think the observation is
valid and its reason is obvious: I learned the language not
from my classmates at school, not from the radio program of
the day; I was taught the language and I was taught it by
myself from the texts of Rilke, Hofmannsthal, Schiller, Goethe,
Lessing ... That's why my style is different, and that's why
my books wouldn't sell.