Vienna, November 14, 1897

Dear Wilhelm,

“It was on November 12,1897; the sun was precisely in the eastern quarter; Mercury and Venus were in conjunction—.” No, birth announcements no longer start like that. It was on November 12, a day dominated by a left-sided migraine, on the afternoon of which Martin sat down to write a new poem,* on the evening of which Oli lost his second tooth,† that, after the frightful labor pains of the last few weeks, I gave birth to a new piece of knowledge. Not entirely new, to tell the truth; it had repeatedly shown itself and withdrawn