TEL: ABINGER 60
DORKING NORTH 5½ MILES
GOMSHALL 3 MILES

ABINGER MANOR,
ABINGER COMMON,
NR. DORKING.

7th. June, 1938.

Dear Mlle. Herzog,

Your letter dated the 2nd. only reached me here this morning, probably when you wrote it you had not received my secretary's letter giving you this address in the country.

I shall do everything in my power to enable Hermann Broch to pass through France as soon as his visa is granted. It is possible that a close friend of ours will be able to obtain some sort of chit (authority) through someone in the Foreign Office enabling Broch to be exceptionally treated so far as his passing through France is concerned. I fear, however, there is nothing I can do to hasten the actual granting of the visa. We, the admirers and friends of Broch, know his great value and significance in European literature but here in England, and I believe in France, his name and high-standing are only known within restricted circles. If he was as well known here as he doubtless is in Germany and what was Austria it is likely that he would be accorded the preferential treatment granted to Freud but you will realise that this is a very great exception and that only influence in the highest quarters enabled Freud to get through so quickly. There are, I understand, quite a number of distinguished writers, artists, scientists and doctors who are endeavouring to get visas for England. In each case their special claims are urged by their friends here. Hence though I know everything possible is being done by Mr. Otto Schiff I fear there is nothing I can do so far as the visa is concerned. You may be quite sure I have done and shall do everything in my power and I am hoping that the friend I alluded to above will be able to press Hermann Broch's case upon highly placed officials both in the Foreign and in the Home Offices.

Indeed, there is nothing to forgive. I am most anxious to second your efforts in every way in my power.

you but as I grow old I find myself neglecting many things
and what is worse many friends through that sort of inertia
which preys upon one especially at a time like this. One
feels so deeply ones inability to contribute in any adequate
fashion to the forces which are preserving civilization
against the most ghastly onslaught it has ever had to withstand.

I am awaiting the arrival of the copy of your "Sleepwalkers"
which I know Kokoschka will appreciate as it deserves - I
assume you will send him a copy in the original German.
I hope you inscribed the book as I know it would greatly
gratify Kokoschka. He has come down here several times;
apart from his artistic powers he is one of the most loveable
human beings I have ever known. Violet's nephew, Edward
Behrens, bought a remarkable picture of his which he lent me
and which I gazed at every day for weeks, a mysterious work
which I called "The Monster" but which I will not venture to
describe.

It grieves me that you have had such a bad attack of grippe
and that when you wrote on September 28th., you still had
not got completely rid of it. I hope that by now you may
have thrown it off.

Mase Psychology is the best possible choice of subject for
your book. It is a mysterious phenomenon but I think that
no people is so easily influenced and swayed as the Germans.
I am sure, in spite of your being fettered by the shortness
of time at your disposal you will carry through this under-
taking with the fullest success even if the miracle is a
combination of your own concentration, will-power and in-
tellect.

The statement by Aldous Huxley, which you enclosed, is to
my mind an astonishingly incoherent one except in so far as
it expresses admiration for your work. For instance, what
does he mean by saying "In spite of all that Broch, the un-
knower of not - thought, may have to hint to us about the
fearful and adorable mystery beneath the ice, Broch, the
novelist, is perfectly at home upon the glassy surface and
continues to perform there with an impeccable virtuosity."
Also it is hardly a compliment to a writer of your eminence
to inform the reader that you have an acute psychological
insight and to add the platitude that this is "much rarer
than a gift for story-telling." I must tell you that my
early opinion of Aldous Huxley's talent has undergone a
steady process of diminution. I knew him many years ago when
I was running a small literary quarterly which I had the

November 14, 1949.

Dear Friend,

I was tremendously touched by your good thoughts. It was kind of you to send me your book. It has a deep meaning for me that you are carrying on the beautiful translating work of Sidney, and that you are continuing to be an intermediary between the two cultures. As I knew the books of Charles Louis Philippe quite well, I can assure you that your translation is masterly.

I am still at Yale because I am finishing my book about Hofmannthal here. I am terribly back in my work because I had to undertake another novel --it was not in my schedule--which I have just completed. It will appear in Germany and Switzerland and Knopf will do it over here. A second novel will also be published by Knopf. And in addition I am trying to continue my political writing.

I can't tell you howmuch the over-heavy work-load is wearing me down. That is also the reason why I could not take over a regular teaching assignment at Yale. I just haven't the time. All my travel plans have again fallen through for the time being. But I haven't given them up.

All my thoughts are with you.