The Rudolf Steiner Archive

21

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa Rosenau
Arlesheim near Basel, May 6, 1919

Dear and honored teacher,

I am sending you three pictures of the Christ figure. Unfortunately, they are not very good. One of them is even too small in the head due to the perspective (because the camera was tilted), etc. The large head is also not well lit, the nuances are too harsh. Frau von Heydebrand asked me to send the pictures of Daffy de Jaager because she looks so cute.

It must be very, very interesting in Stuttgart now! Frau Stein reads us excerpts from her husband's letters, but I want to know more! It is very quiet in the studio; Pozzo and Bugaieff are painting. Stuten and van der Pals have left, the former for Holland, where Miss Waller and Brunier are also to go on Saturday.

With my warmest regards,

L. Edith C. Maryon

23

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa Rosenau
Arlesheim near Basel, May 21, 1919

Dear and esteemed teacher,

I spent two days in Zurich. On Saturday at the Women's Congress. Dr. Boos sent me an urgent telegram saying that my presence in Zurich was urgently needed to discuss with the delegates. I found a lady who kindly promised to take papers with her, so I gave her two “Key Points etc.” and the letters and the translation of the first chapter of the book. It is to be hoped that they will arrive safely. (I hadn't received any news of the earlier letters.) It was extremely interesting for me to hear the speeches; they are sending a delegation to Paris to protest against the blockade and the peace terms. They can speak quite well and reasonably, but I fear that there will be very little to be gained from this.

A very nice letter has arrived from Collison – he is now in California. The appeal had been forwarded to him in New York and he made use of it there and also in England.

The four translations of the dramas are now being printed, and he hopes to send you copies by fall at the latest. Unfortunately – he continues – they are always so terribly expensive that I never have anything left to send to our dear teacher. The translation of “Social Question” should be sent to a Dr. Connor in Chicago, he says; but it has to wait until everything is finished and well worked through because it is extremely difficult!

In the studio, everything is progressing slowly. I long for correction and collaboration and hope that the time for this will come soon. I would be very happy to hear that lectures are only needed every other day, and not every day.

With warmest regards,

L. Edith C. Maryon

25

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa Rosenau, Arlesheim
Pentecost Monday, [June 8, 1919]

Dear and esteemed teacher,

I am very happy to receive your letter, although I am sorry about its content: to hear how many obstacles and misunderstandings one has to overcome in order for such difficult work to progress. I can only recommend that everyone study the book thoroughly, so that they don't feel the need to read all kinds of things into it that have nothing to do with the matter at hand. I will finish the translation this week, that is, for the first time; then it will need to be critically revised. I have nothing to report about the printing yet; for the time being I have only been corresponding with Miss Franklin (the ground had to be prepared a bit first), but I hope that she will visit the publisher this week. It seems that paper is very expensive now and the price of books has risen considerably; she also thinks that the book is difficult to understand. So I don't know how successful we will be. I have received a favorable critique of the first chapter from Miss Hughes, but not yet from Professor. I would like to read the last book if a copy were available, but perhaps one must wait until it is no longer dangerous to send it. Is there any hope that the work in Stuttgart will be finished by the end of this month so that you can resume work here? Everything is slowly moving forward. On the south side of the Goetheanum, the scaffolding between the columns and windows has been removed, leaving the vaults and columns free. The capitals can be seen, and it is truly wonderfully beautiful and gives an idea of how it will look when it is completely freed from the forest of scaffolding poles. I have had the head (plasticine) of the 2nd Ahriman cast in the large studio, so that when the wooden head is worked out in the small studio, the model can stand beside it. But the original will of course be spoiled; may I have it done, or would you prefer us to wait a while before doing it?

I hope the letter about Collison and the photographs arrived safely? Otherwise, nothing has changed here.

With warm regards

L. Edith Maryon

27

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa Rosenau
Arlesheim near Basel, July 6, 1919

Dear and esteemed teacher,

I am sending you the last photograph of the Christ head, which is also the best so far. I would also like to know whether I can use the title of the book “The roots of the social questions in the vital needs of the present and future”. “Germs” is not liked; it sounds a bit humorous and nobody is happy with it. I am now waiting for an answer from Messrs. Routledge (instead of National Labour Press, they have no office in London and Miss Franklin has turned to the other publisher).

I am truly sorry that the work is so much more difficult with so little understanding. Dr. Boos was here today and seems very satisfied with the progress in Switzerland. A very nice letter has arrived from a lady in England who seems to understand the matter and offers to do the translation. An American woman, now an Englishwoman, was introduced to me today by Dr. Boos and she promises financial and other support. She was very nice. She would like to win Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells for the cause if she could, they could achieve a lot for the cause. This week the last blocks are coming into the studio, everything will then be arranged, only the work longs very much for the first sculptor, especially for the Christ figure.

There is a terrible housing shortage, many houses have been sold. A rich Swiss woman offered double for the room of Miss Clason, more than triple for the service, etc., so Miss C. is now on the street. My stay here will probably be short as well, they are already charging double for heating, etc., and I have already been asked whether it would not be better to find other rooms! But I will stay a little longer (for now). I have now talked to Mr. Bay a lot about whether it would be possible to build small houses and rent rooms for around 30-35 francs, and now he is looking into the question. I thought that maybe my mother could lend me the money for a three-room apartment if it were possible to rent land near the canteen or the office (for a water pipe, etc.). Mr. Bay thinks that some wealthy Bernese members would be happy to build such houses. But I'll wait for your opinion until you come. The plan is for 2 rooms and 2 kitchens, but I would like 3 rooms and 1 kitchen and thought it might be something for Kisseleff, Clason and me, if the price is within the range of possibility. I also need to know your opinion about this; we'll wait until you come, just hoping that the wait won't be too long. The last corrections to the book are taking a long time; the head seems to have become a little tired!

In England, a small committee is being formed to work on the social question. Dr. Boos suggests that I should travel to England and give slide lectures about the Goetheanum!!

There is also a lot of work here; Stuttgart has already had a great deal.

With warmest regards,

L. Edith C. Maryon

29

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Atelier Villa Rosenau
Arlesheim, [probably July 1919]

Sunday.

Dear Teacher,

I have now received the news that Messrs. Routledge would prefer not to accept the book because they do not agree with such questions. If they were to publish it, it would be entirely at our risk and the costs would be £100-1000 per 1000 copies, after that £12-13 per 1000. Mr. Courtney went to the National Labour Press and from there he was sent to a very well-known Labour man who is involved with a publishing house; he speaks very favorably about the book and will give us an answer within a week. They work with Messrs. Allen and Unwin and publish all the Fabian literature. It seems we have not lost any time after all, because now is the holiday season and it is very unfavourable for books; almost all those that are published now fail. The book could be published in October and the best time is from 1 October to Christmas, they say.

A small committee has now been formed in England to work on the social question, and Mr. Kaufmann has given four lectures on the book to members and friends. He seems to have spoken very well, and his audience was very enthusiastic and showed great interest in the ideas. He thought it would be good to write an article for a magazine as a harbinger of the book. What do you think?

Please address letters to the studio; after August 1, I will no longer be at [Villa] Rosenau – they rented my room to someone else for a much higher price. I have the room of Miss Maquet until October 1, and then no further arrangements have been made.

I have many questions – and I hope that you will be able to come back soon, it has been a very long time since you left. On Thursday, we celebrated the topping out ceremony for the group; the last block was placed at the top and we had ourselves photographed at the summit, that is, some of the workers and carvers – as a collaborator, you were also in the picture, just in the picture, unfortunately! I don't yet know how it will turn out, because Mrs. v. Heydebrand had to hover almost in the air with her apparatus!

Today there is a concert in the church in Arlesheim in favor of the holiday children of Munich, Mr. Schuurman is playing, so I think many of us will go, despite the fact that the money is much more important than our presence. I hope to receive a reply to my last letter!

With warmest regards

L. Edith C. Maryon

I would like to give the book to a German to read so that all the errors of meaning can be spotted, but who? If you come back soon, perhaps Mrs. Dr.?

30

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa St. Georg
Arlesheim near Basel, August 24, 1919

Dear and honored teacher,

I am sending you a letter from my brother-in-law. I have noted his critique of the translation of your book “The Core of the Social Question” in red pencil; the other translation has not yet arrived. Miss Sharp told me that the lady who translated it is the same one who offered Dr. Boos the job, and I gave her the address of Mr. Drury-Lavin. She was not satisfied with it and then did her own translation with the help of Mr. Kaufmann, comparing it sentence for sentence with mine. Miss Sharp also says that they were not entirely satisfied that I turned to a friend instead of to the members, but I actually only knew Collison; I saw Drury-Lavin and Cull a few times in 1913 in Munich when they gave lectures. I didn't even know that Mr. Kaufmann existed!

I have finished modeling the ramp and it should be cast tomorrow. The studio seems very empty and quiet now. I am quite envious of Miss Waller that I am not allowed to help with the work in Stuttgart! This week I will start carving the Ahriman head and the hand of Lucifer again, it helps me to keep my balance.

With warmest regards

L. Edith C. Maryon

31

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Sculptor's studio, Goetheanum, Monday evening
[September 1, 1919]

Dear and honored teacher,

I am writing to you straight away because, when I was making a copy of the titles of your lectures for Oxford, I had the feeling that with “Man within the Social Order. The Individual and the Community” (= commonwealth), you actually mean “community”. Commonwealth has more to do with the state, but community with people as such in their relationships to one another and as a whole. If you could tell me which word you would have preferred to use in the translation, I will send a postcard to Mrs. Mackenzie. I have already made a comment in the letter.

Tuesday. Hopefully, your health is improving now? I hope that the opening ceremony at school will be quite nice, I will be thinking of it.

Tomorrow afternoon we are photographing some children doing eurythmy therapy, in the hope of getting some good pictures for Anthroposophy.

There is nothing special to report today. With warmest greetings

Edith Maryon

33

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa St. Georg
Arlesheim near Basel, September 14, 1919

Dear and esteemed teacher,

The second translation of chapters one and two of your book has finally arrived, but I find it extremely difficult to form an opinion about it. At first I read the two chapters purely from the point of view of an English book, and found that it is well written, in very modern, apt English, the images very much in the English sense, with no trace of the German origin (as in my poor creation!). Only here and there did I find a sentence that seemed to me to be modern slang, but it is probably not perceived that way in present-day England. It reads fluently and interestingly, and I could well imagine that, if it is properly published, it could even become a popular book. The one translator is already an experienced and well-known writer, and she already has a lot of influence in these circles, and she could contribute significantly to the book being published by the National Labor Press.

Then I read it and compared it to the original. Here it turned out that the two translators took a lot of liberties with the sentence distribution, [and that] in my opinion, with the exception of one or two places, without having a good reason for it. I think they formed two or three sentences out of one, two sentences out of one, etc. This happens on average twice or more per page. But this could be quickly corrected and made good; I think it would be desirable because a different nuance comes across.

Then they have usually written three quarters of the words that are written in bold in the original, so that the emphasized word has the same value as the others. I also think that they often translated too freely, that is, they tried to understand the meaning and then freely render it in their own way, so that it is a bit as if you had seen a blue painting and, from memory, made a green one! It is the same with paragraphs; they create completely new ones in an arbitrary way.

Finally, I compared the first chapter of the two translations and found that the other one reads more fluently when viewed as a whole, which is easy to understand because one translator had already written a lot and I had not! I often find my sentences clumsier, but perhaps more faithful – in some respects – to the original; others are even like another version, some better. (Is that immodest?) But in the end I think that the best thing to do would be to use the other translation, because the people in England have influence and I don't, and they have to work there and will be more interested if they can create their own tools. I would only insist that the stressed words should also be stressed in English, and that one should not arbitrarily introduce a different sentence distribution. If time is not too pressing and the others allow it (which they may not do because they are firmly convinced that their translation is quite faithful to the original), I would like to see some things a little differently. This judgment is formed from the first chapter; I have only briefly read the second, but my critique is about the same. I will study the matter further in the next few days, but probably not think much differently.

So I am writing now, so that perhaps a little time can be saved. The lady and Mr. Kaufmann plan to be in Dornach at the end of September. The question is whether a translation should be given to the Nat[ional] Lab[our] Press immediately so that we can get an answer?

If the others come and allow me, I would like to go through the work and compare it, it might be possible to improve it a bit, but that would take time, maybe it's better and more important to get started quickly now? I await your judgment on all of this and have not said anything to the two people.

I have various letters from the commission, etc. to present to you later.

I would have loved to be able to work on this as well, but it seems that life wants to throw me out on this occasion and I have to let it happen for the sake of the matter.

It will be so nice when you can work here again, the times are quite difficult and the weeks are very long. I received the letter well and was very happy about it.

With my warmest regards

L. Edith C. Maryon

34

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner
Sculptor's studio, Goetheanum
Dornach, 21 Dec. 1919

Dear and esteemed teacher,

My life here has become quite different. I spend my time between the large and small Lucifer figures (one hopes that this does not lead to all kinds of fanciful thoughts and qualities?) The head of the small Lucifer is tilted so far forward that it is difficult to carve. I have already chipped away almost too much of the nose – but it can be repaired. Our studio looks very empty and abandoned, as if no one had worked there in a month.

I had a long talk with Mrs. Wedgwood about the people she has encountered – she is much less judgmental than I am and says that if you haven't lived through it yourself, you can hardly imagine how incredibly ugly and difficult it was in England during the war, and that the few hundred people who more or less understood the real significance of this war really went through a dreadful time. The whole air there is poisoned and polluted with lies, and people who had to hold themselves upright in such an atmosphere without any support or help, in the middle of a crowd of people who showed hostility as soon as it became known that someone was a pacifist – and feeling depressed by the horror of this war – really had a terrible time. She thought that many could not have held out if they had seen everything. That's why she has hope for these people, who at least want to hear, while the others are blind, deaf, and hostile to all other thoughts. Nevertheless, I think that one can easily understand what it looked like there, even without being there.

Dec. 22: Today I was at the key issues working group in the reading room. It was actually quite interesting, mainly a little speech by Mrs. W[fedgwood], which was clearly expressed, with a bit of humor, etc. The topic was capital. The questions were sometimes amusing. Mr. Monges wanted to know whether a dentist sold his work in exactly the same way as the day laborers and [that] could hardly understand the difference, and said he must feel like a slave

Mrs. Drury-Lavin spoke of the contentment and piety she had found among the English agricultural laborers and could not understand how they could belong to a bygone age that had no future. Both questions were asked in a very characteristic way.

I am looking forward to the public lectures in Basel.

With warm regards

Edith Maryon

35

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, December 24, 1919

My dear Miss E. Maryon,

I send my warmest Christmas greetings to our sculptors. It goes without saying that I would like to be there with these greetings.

The Waldorf School has developed well so far. There is a good spirit there. The children like going there. And if you ask them: do you like going to school? They enthusiastically answer “yes”.

I had a lecture on the first day of my visit; then from morning to evening school visits for the first two days; in between meetings. There are still public lectures in Stuttgart on Saturday 27 December and Tuesday 30 December; in addition, an improvised course on natural science is taking place at the Waldorf School. Then another smaller course. In addition, there are a number of branch lectures. So there is enough to do in the short time, because between the lectures there are the discussions.

The return journey will be on January 4th. Once again, the warmest Christmas greetings

Rudolf Steiner
currently in Stuttgart, Landhausstraße 70