You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Vienna, January 6, 1916
IX., Berggasse 19
Dear friend,
The address on this letter will remind you of the fact that you still haven't given me one in Budapest.
I am writing to you on account of some news: Ernst became a cadet today simultaneously with Martin's promotion1 and is back on the karst. Rank said farewell today and is off to Cracow,2 quite insecure and sad, and I certainly let him go with regret. The Society evening yesterday was already quite disgusting. Sachs will now strive to compensate for his activity, as long as we can maintain ours.3
I cannot deny that I am quite grumpy. Out of this mood was born an idea, which I present to you. It is formed from familiar material.
Don't we already now know two conditions for artistic endowment? First, the wealth of phylogenetically transferred material, as with the neurotic; second, a good remnant of the old technique of modifying oneself instead of the outside world. (See Lamarck,4 etc.). This ability, applied to