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Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
27. xi. 32
Dear Meister Arnold,
It was not long before I had read your new book right through and the impression it made upon me is still so powerful that I am scarcely in a position yet to say much to you about it. An impression it certainly does make and by the time one has finished it one is satiated with experiences-the material, its wealth, the sharpness of delineation, the absence of bias in the description-all this takes possession of
the reader. It is something so entirely different from your usual style. Then one realises that woman scarcely plays any part in the book; that it is a book about a quarrel and a struggle among men and that, quite justifiably, the only love that occurs is the love of a man for a boy. The background-this time a historical one-is, as always with you, masterly. The character into whom you have put your own ego is once again the anchor for the reader; after a few lines he becomes our bosom friend, our interpreter and our guide. Though I doubt whether there are many Englishmen in the Secret Service who are so like Arnold Zweig.
Strangely enough my attention is attracted most potently this time by what in a dream I would call ‘day residues’. Surely you have not invented in every detail your de Vriendt and other figures and events. Of course the quatrains are your own invention. Is it a special piece of artistry that many of them read like translations from the Dutch?
As it happens I am able to send you something from us today. I had a hand in editing the book1 which is going off to you at the same time as this. They are the letters of an uncle2 of my wife's who was a famous classical scholar and, it appears, an outstanding personality. His attitude towards the Jewish and Christian faiths is worthy of attention. Also his affectionate relationship with Paul Heyse3. I beg you to read this little book. In a few days you will receive a copy of my last work, perhaps really the last, a supplement to the Introductory Lectu