Dear Nikola,

Thank you for your letter. I'm always pleased to see you and talk with you
whenever you want to come. I am toying with the notion of driving to 
southwest Virginia in two or three weeks. I've held onto the house in which
my parents died 27 years ago, and the house needs a visitor or it will get
lonely. As of this evening I assess the probability that I will go at 25%, 
the probability that I will be here at 75%. There is, of course, no reason 
why we couldn't get together before I went , - if I went.

When we next meet, I'd like you to explain more about the poems you sent me,
what they mean to you and what they should mean to me.

So far as writing is concerned, consider me frivolously irresponsible, because
I write (only) for the satisfaction I derive from reading what I've written; 
Narcissus gazing at himself in the pool, is my role model.
The enemy of that satisfaction is censorship, be it by others or by myself. 
I make no attempt to assess whether what I write is "good" or "bad". 
I do ask myself whether what I write is "true", and frequently I don't know
the answer. I will have nothing to do with monuments. I stick out my tongue 
at Horace who famously wrote:

Exegi monumentum aere perennius
regalique situ pyramidum altius,
quod non imber edax, non Aquilo inpotens
possit diruere aut innumerabilis
annorum series et fuga temporum.
Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei
uitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera
crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
scandet cum tacita uirgine pontifex.

(I have erected a monument to myself, more enduring than ore 
and higher than the regal edifice of the pyramids,
which neither voracious rain nor unbridled borealis 
can destroy nor uncounted 
years nor the passage of time.
I will not wholly die, and a great part of me 
will evade death, and I will forever 
regenerate through the fame of posterity,
so long as the priest will ascend to the capitol with the silent maiden.)

My Latin is deficient. I cheated by translating a German version
which I found on the Internet. This living forever is, of course,
a religious issue, since eating from the Tree of Life is a no-no 
which will get you booted out of Eden if you get caught. Musical
conductors' fame is in the same category. If you could slip this
notion into Nathaniel's mind you would perform him a great service.

Passover is another matter. I mix up for my own consumption my own
theology. Haven't found anyone else who can stomach it. I suggest
we steer clear of the supernatural, but if you wish to explore it,
I'll try to explain. At minimum, good exercise in hermeneutics.

I've been reading and re-reading the libretto to Ariadne auf Naxos,
and find it fascinating. So far as the music is concerned, I note
with interest the sentiment Hofmannthal puts into the mouth of
the dancing master: "There's more melody in the heel of my shoe
than in that opera." I wonder if Strauss took it personally, and if
not, what he thought that statement meant.

Stay well and happy, and let me know ahead, the time at which you
want to come, so I can be sure to be here.

Jochen