October 2, 2011

Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter. Your questions invariably give me to think. Nathaniel's plan for his New Year's concert, when he last spoke to me about it, was to introduce the music, specifically the Eroica, with two or more audience participation lectures, in which he would explain the essence of what the music meant to him in the hope that his understanding and enthusiasm might be contagious. An obvious attempt to make the most of his charismatic personality. Mine is not, - but I'll help him as best I can, and we'll see what happens.

As to the comparison of my relationships to the grandchildren, neither the children nor the relationships are susceptible to ranking. The relationships are as different as are the children, and as I needn't tell you, relationships among us human beings are very complex. As my novel about relationships keeps getting longer and longer, conclusive answers to my questions seem to become more and more elusive.

In theory I'm all in favor of a radical examination of what we mean by good and evil. In practice it seems like an impossible, a hopeless project, a semantic nightmare, considering how promiscuously and thoughtlessly the words are used. We wish one another good morning and good night. We refer not only to a good meal, but also to a good dog, a good play, a good novel, a good life, a good spirit, a good soul, and not least, to a good God. In German, Uebeltaeter means evil-doer, whatever that is, but "Mir ist uebel" means "I'm nauseated." My threshold comment: rank confusion, a semantic nightmare. The only possible solution, to take all that's been written about good and evil to the waste disposal facility and start all over.

Stay well, and give my best to Ned.

Jochen

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