225 East 73rd St
New York City
November 19th, 1940

Dear Miss Norden:

Mr Broch handed me the enclosed pages which I am return-
ing to you and which you were good enough to let me see. Thank you
very much. Mr. Broch also gave me a message from you: that you would
like my comment on them. I am loathe to comment on them, because, as
a matter of fact, you, having both the English and the German as a twin-
mothertongue, you ought to be quite capable of making an accurate
translation of Mr. Broch's book. Should you care to do so, and have the
time for it, I will gladly relinquish you the task. I put my own work
to one side in order to make a sample translation, which I did with the
utmost labor, as German - and especially Broch's German - is only a
mother-tongue to me several generations removed - a so-to-speak gran dmother
tongue. And no fairy grandmother either!

Firstly, I am glad to have the more precise 'breakwater'
to substitute for pier in the translation of the word Schutzmole. Other-
wise although you have used different words ( our English language being
so beautifully rich in synonyms this is inevitable) I find very little
difference in the meaning we have abstracted from the text. What I do
find however, is a difference in rthym. Now the rthymy rhythm, it seems
to me, is the very essence of a man's style. It is like his breath, which
is conditioned by psychological as well as physical causes. Now it just
happens that I have an advantage here - firstly through my life-long
training as a musician, and secondly through my natural equipment as
a poet. Also from the fact that I have been successful in making both
metrical and rhymed translations of verse, that were not only true to
the poem's inner meaning, but exact in syllabic formation, so that they
could be sung without alteration of the musical accompaniment. In
addition, my life's course had led me rather deeply into metaphysical
research, for which I have an instinctive affinity, and so I believe
( although, of course, I may be self-deluded) that I have a kind of
divination beyond that of mere workaday knowledge of the meaning of
Broch's poem.

As you know the fate of the Værgil is momentarily
hanging in the balance, though I have the conviction that some publisher
will be able to see its worth and be happy to bring it out, without
hope of commercial rewards, relying on a success d'estime. Let us
hope so. And perhaps this future publisher will make his own choice of
a translator. However that may be, I thank you again for letting me
see the collaboration of yourself and your brother, and should it fall
to my lot ( and at the moment I can not wish for it!) to do this trans-
lation, I hope I may call on you for some informal collaboration. It
was nice to be able to meet you at last, and I hope we may see each
other again in a not-too-distant future.

Cordially yours,