To Anton Pavlovitch, with Love and Faith

[luciensteiner]

Dear Anton Pavlovitch,

I was fifteen when I heard a radio adaptation of The Swan Song and thought it was very beautiful. Very moving and delicate. There were actors in my family and even at that age I was familiar enough with their environment to see how truthful was the figure of the aged actor who wakes up in the middle of the night alone in the

Comments

[blue_by_you]

Oh how absolutely beautiful and poignant. I trust you to know, Leo, that I don't say this lightly: you have become one of my favorite writers. I am in awe. I cannot wait one day to read your own journal and hold it in my hand as the book it deserves to be. A book on my shelf, not my computer, with pages to open. I imagine with each opening something new will appear in the air around me: actors and actresses and directors and beaches, places and people owned by everyone coming alive in the air alongside the most intriguing of all - your loved ones who share like sparkling birthday candles with the world.

[luciensteiner]

I don't know. It's very interesting to observe the many ways inadequacy has of taking over something written by a non-native speaker of any language. As if the language in question had suddenly materialized in front of you in the guise of a mythical creature who looks at you and says, "How dare you, mortal, to think you can handle me?" Then, in order to punish you for being so outrageous the creature makes inadequacy creep in without your being even remotely aware of it. How on Earth could I write something like "I wish you could come and meet her. Since you can't, I chose today to change the title of this journal. From now on, it's going to be all the way Journal to Lisa: A Belated Journey to Anton Pavlovitch" without realizing I was being uncourteous to you? I mean, it wouldn't happen in my own language.

The paragraph beginning with "Then, in a recent message, Lisa says ..." and the last one have been edited so as to show the creature that it's not as powerful as it thinks it is.

[blue_by_you]

I didn't find it discourteous at all, Leo. I understood it.