July 13, 2021

Dear Don,

Thank you for your letter. Perhaps I should explain myself further.  I consider Verstreut über alle fünf Kontinente a work of art which I very much respect, and with the translation into English of which, I am pleased to help as much as I am able. That being said, I should add that Dr. Busch's work presents me with many fundamental literary problems which I cannot solve, and which would prevent my assuming responsibility for an English edition.

I'm not suggesting that this is a task which you should undertake.  A secondary author contemplating an English version of Verstreut über alle fünf Kontinente, should first of all identify and specify in detail all changes, if any, that he wished to make in Dr. Busch's composition.  Then, having proved to himself the feasibility of his project, the secondary author should make formal application to Dr. Busch and to the publisher for permission to proceed and negotiate the fee. In the commercial world, as you know, everything has its price tag. The fee, if any, should be paid only after receipt a) of all the images, and b) of all non-German original texts, presumably in English, which had been translated into German for the German edition.  Only then would it be reasonable to begin with the composition of an English version of the book.  Whether I would be able to contribute English translations to such a project is an issue which would depend on circumstances which I cannot now anticipate.  I repeat: I'm not suggesting that the preparation of an English version of Verstreut über alle fünf Kontinente of is a task which you should undertake.
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You ask whether my own present writing project is fiction or non-fiction.  I answer: It is a deliberate amalgam of both. I invent fictional characters to dramatize non-fictional interpersonal harmony and conflict. I describe imaginary dinner parties where participants, acting like disappointed college professors, give lectures about topics in theology, sociology, psychology, epistemology, ethics, etc.  These are, of course, ideas which at one and the same time pre-occupy me because of their personal importance to me, and which frustrate me, because in my non-fictional life I have no listeners.  The inescapable derivatives of writing about ideas which no one wants to hear are books which no one wants to read. Not a single volume has been sold.

My best wishes to Jan and to yourself.
Jochen