Dear Georgette,

Thank you for your letter of two days ago, March 9. Correspondence
such as ours presents me with the need to decide how promptly to
answer, given that I wish to nurture the exchange so that it will
not wither, but that my 79 3/4 year old memory has lost much of its
tenacity, and if I fail to record my thoughts and reflections as
they occur, these may well be irretrievably lost. If I write, but
delay mailing what I have written, my letter, unlike wine, will
hardly improve with age, but rather its relevance will fade, until
what I dispatch will be embarrassing for me to send, and
correspondingly tedious for you to read.

Thank you for your comments about Anschluss. The typescript
is safe on a bookshelf nearby. I expect to reread it in stages,
as I meditate on the issues you address. The stated subject of
my last letter: "Die Freundinnen" was a calculated allusion to
the title of the novel with which I am presently preoccupied,
which I call "Die Freunde". Although what I have written
to this date is available to you on the Internet at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ernstmeyer/Romane.html
my citation of the URL is not a suggestion that you should
take the time or make the effort to read even as much as a
paragraph of my writing which was intended not for publication
but as an exercise in auto-psychotherapy. Reading what I
have written gives me pleasure and makes me feel better;
even though, if I had the time, I would make much effort to
improve the text.

I mention my writing not as surreptious solicitation of
readership, but as an anchor for the thought that the literary
concerns of both you and myself are focussed on friendship
as the reciprocal affection for each other of two human beings.
Friendship as family is also the topic of my earlier novel,
Die Andere. As I skim the history of Western thought, it occurs
to me, irresponsible dilettante that I am, how the intellectual
puzzle of centuries past, the relationship of the invisible
soul to the visible body, has been replaced for us by the
enigmas of association, most immediately, by the perplexities
of friendship, facets of which seem to preoccupy us both.

The topic of friendship, it seems to me, is also highly relevant
to our respective memories of my sister, who adamantly denied
me the friendship which I so fervently desired, all the while
making to you overtures of maternal friendship which, if I
understand correctly, did not always meet with your wholehearted
response; but before I ask more questions, I shall listen to the
tape of our recent telephone conversation.

Meanwhile, I very much hope you prevailed in your recent legal
confrontation. The results of my own obstinacy are still
outstanding. To the extent that it's of interest to you,
feel free to review my legal "work-product" at
http://home.earthlink.net/~jochenmeyer/litigation/litig_index.html
although I would be much surprised if you didn't have far more
important and compelling matters to attend to. Please feel free
also to postpone your answering this letter to as distant a
future occasion as is convenient. I like to read your letters,
but there must be no pressure on you to reply.
My very best wishes to you.

Jochen