Dear Micha,

Thank you for sending the text of your autobiographical sketch.
I read it last evening, virtually in a single sitting from beginning
to end. I was much impressed. I suspect that in retrospect, reading
"Niko" will prove to have been a memorable experience, not only on
account of the light which a genuine text sheds on a genuine author,
but also as obligato to my correspondence with Marion, and not least
as subtle contrapuntal commentary on my own childhood experience.

To make sure that no content was lost in transmission, I make the 
wholly non-critical observation: that from the 69.8 megabyte file
I received, I was able to recover only .247 megabytes of text.
Ordinarily one would expect a 70 megabyte file to contain graphics
or images; if so, my computer program was unsuccessful in extracting
them. Of course, it was the text, 42580 words or approximately 100
printed pages, which was of interest to me, and the text I believe
I recovered in its entirety.

The dialogue between Micha and Niko seems to me a felicitous and 
effective literary conceit. It immediately brought to mind
"Und dass mein eignes Ich, durch nichts gehemmt,
Herueberglitt aus einem kleinen Kind ..."
from Hofmannsthal's Terzinen ueber Vergaenglichkeit:

Noch spür ich ihren Atem auf den Wangen:
Wie kann das sein, daß diese nahen Tage
Fort sind, für immer fort, und ganz vergangen?

Dies ist ein Ding, das keiner voll aussinnt,
Und viel zu grauenvoll, als daß man klage:
Daß alles gleitet und vorüberrinnt.

Und daß mein eignes Ich, durch nichts gehemmt,
Herüberglitt aus einem kleinen Kind
Mir wie ein Hund unheimlich stumm und fremd.

Dann: daß ich auch vor hundert Jahren war
Und meine Ahnen, die im Totenhemd,
Mit mir verwandt sind wie mein eignes Haar,

So eins mit mir als wie mein eignes Haar.

I was struck also by the pervasive dialectic, such as
between parents and foster parents, maternal and paternal
grandparents, between Flucht und Geborgenheit, childhood
and age, Judaism and Christianity, and not least, the contrast
of landscapes: the wintry frozen canals of the Netherlands
and the sunlit splendor of the Canary Islands. It seems
to me, there is much substance to your work.

Whether or not there is a public prepared to purchase,
or a screenwriter waiting to dramatize, - a project you
might consider as your own, - I can have no opinion,
having abandoned many years ago all attempts to find
a publisher for my own work. My only advice in this regard
is not to distribute without a valid copyright notice.

It goes without saying that "if I were writing the story"
some sentences, some paragraphs would turn out to be
different. I'm prepared to try to help (rather than to 
obfuscate) with constructive criticism; but then I'm not
sure that's necessary. At least for my enlightenment and
for my edification the text is more than good enough as is.
Thank you for sending it.

Jochen