Entre les duex guerres

Friday night
February 9, 2007

Dear Mago,
On January 27, 1942 you wondered what you talked about before the war.
In February 1993, when I was on a visit to Berlin, I wrote about my impressions of the time before the war, between the wars, from my new European perspective:

Dada, Bauhaus and Surrealism
temporarily elevated Europe
from the pain of the pinch
between the wars
by sublimating dirt
from the trenches,
common household dust
from the folds and cracks
of torn old maps, paper,
paint, ink, wood, sand,
cement and canvas
into fragments of intuition,
dreams and materials
on another level.

I wonder if you can relate to my fantasies, then and now, now and then?
You say that you have received word that your daughter Virginia is coming home from Pearl Harbor, but that she doesn't know when. Jungfrun i pärlornas hamn kommer hem, men hon vet inte när. Then, when she comes home, you say that you will begin to live again. February 1942? February 2007?: wanted dead or alive. Perhaps you can relate to my mention of the lace handkerchief (Feb 07/ 07) that Anne used to sublimate her grief.

Love,
your devoted granddaughter
ps. I have another blog with seemingly independent reflections at http://us-in-scan-din-avia.blogspot.com/ as well as http://lookout1941-42.blogspot.com/ds.