The Rudolf Steiner Archive

18

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

58, Grove Park Terrace,
Chiswick, W. London
[presumably after April 18, 1914]

[From] tomorrow my address is
The Grange, Goudhurst Kent.

Sunday

Dear Teacher,

Please excuse me for writing to you again. I hadn't intended to, but Dr. Felkin doesn't know what treatment to give me until you have said what you think would be best. We do not want to interfere with your measures, and I myself think that you know what I should do, and if you are allowed to give me your advice, it could be of great help to Dr. Felkin and also to me. My health has deteriorated somewhat due to this work (it is hard) and so I am going to stay with friends in the country until May 4.

In the esoteric field I have learned something in these last few days and had an experience today, and now I no longer have darkness in my soul, and from this side I could expect an answer with patience, but I feel obliged to ask what is best to be done under these circumstances for Dr. Felkin, my family, and myself as well.

We do not feel entirely sure about the occult side of things, in order to find the right path. It is always against my better judgment to ask you something, because it is always more work for you, but what else can I do? And this is really important.

Therefore, I ask you to send me a telegram, or to Dr. Felkin; his telegraphic address is Felskamm, London.

Miss Wilson can tell you more; it is so much quicker in English!

I hope this can be goodbye, my dear teacher! How can I thank you? Your pupil,

L. Edith C. Maryon.

(Today Dr. Felkin said that he has already said everything necessary about my health.

22

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, May 10, 1919

My dear Miss E. Maryon,

Thank you very much for your letter. I am so overworked here that I can only look through the sheet you sent if it is to be done carefully and send it back in a few days. To hold at least one lecture every day, followed by a discussion, is asking a lot of an old body, and I would be glad if I could use other parts of the body in between than just the larynx here in Dornach. But all this must be done. And since the day before yesterday, it seems as if I am better understood than before. But that can always change. Naturally I think a great deal about the work in Dornach and shall be satisfied when circumstances permit me to work again. The work here will still take some time.

For today, warmest greetings

Rudolf Steine

Stuttgart, Landhausstrasse 70 (at Kinkel's)

24

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, June 4, 1919

Dear Miss E. Maryon,

Thank you for your letter. I have wanted to answer for a long time, but I have a lot of work to do. And work that requires a great deal of thought. If it were not for the misunderstandings that keep arising, everything would be easier. But everything you say is immediately distorted when it is retold. You see that people are fighting against you from all sides because of false reports. People try to fit everything into a party mold, and if something has nothing to do with any party mold, they make something completely different out of it. This is not only done by opponents, but also by people who are well-disposed towards the cause I represent. And so all real work is very difficult. I am very pleased to hear that the sculpting work in Dornach is continuing and I would be very happy to do artistic work there, far from the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day. But the necessities of the times must be served. One must not shirk one's duty. I hear that my book on the social question has now been published in Switzerland as well; I hope that from it people will see what I really want and that perhaps some things will calm down that are only the result of chatter from opponents and also beginners.

I am, however, gratified that there are still people who understand me correctly and who, on the basis of these thoughts,

sincerely greet me with unchanging convictions.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

Stuttgart, Landhausstrasse 70, (at Kinkel's)

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

26

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, June 28, 1919

My dear Miss E. Maryon,

I was very pleased to receive your letters and the pictures you sent. I will have to continue working here for some time yet. But I believe that this time it will not be too long. I long for the work in the sculpture studio in Dornach. And it may well be that after some time I will be able to go there again, and then come back here to set up a school that is planned for Stuttgart. But today nothing certain can be said about the next timing. The circumstances of the times do not allow for such certainty.

It is very difficult to find understanding, especially for what is most necessary in these circumstances. It is difficult for people of our time to understand these necessities from a spiritual basis. Under the influence of materialistic habits of thought, they have distanced themselves from understanding how the spiritual also works in the material. They believe that the material can only be improved by the material. And so they do not see that every attempt to improve the material by mere material must lead further into confusion. My book is incomprehensible to some people simply because it contains different material from what they have been accustomed to thinking. And though it is difficult for people to get rid of old habits, they find it hardest to change their thinking habits. And yet there will be no salvation for our time except through a change of thinking, relearning.

I often think of our work in the Dornach sculpture studio and would love to be there. Only the obligatory work has to be done and only thoughts can be there.

With warmest regards

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

currently Stuttgart, Landhausstraße 70 (at Kinkel's)

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

28

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, 25 July 1919

My dear Miss Edith Maryon!

It is good that I have received the two letters and the picture of our artistic work. It is sad to hear that such difficulties are arising for the living quarters. Perhaps something can be arranged to alleviate these difficulties. My work here has not diminished. For example, in the last few days I gave a lecture here on Sunday, in Heilbronn on Monday, in Ulm on Tuesday, here on Wednesday, on Thursday I spoke to the eurythmy group here, today I had many meetings and so on. In between, there is much to discuss and write about.

How I long to be back to our artistic work! For the time being, we intend to go to Dornach in the first half of August. But everything is uncertain at the moment. But I certainly hope that it will come about. Then, however, I would have to be back in Stuttgart in the second half of August, where I have to give a course for the teachers of a school that I would like to found. But if everything goes as I am now thinking, I would be back at work in the sculpture studio for a short time. Boos has done good work in Switzerland in the meantime.

The direction of the ideas is not really understood. There are certainly a few who show understanding. But there is a lot of misunderstanding, and one advances much too slowly for the time conditions. You too have difficulties with the translation of my book. But it will be of great importance that this translation is published.

Recently I have also given anthroposophical lectures in addition to the other lectures. One could even say that there is more interest in the latter than in the former.

In the time that remains to me from my work, I think a lot about the sculpting work in our studio. It will be satisfying for me to be there again. We want to see if this will be in the first

half of August. For now, warmest greetings from

Rudolf Steiner

Stuttgart, Landhausstraße 70

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

38

Edith Maryon to Rudolf Steiner

Villa St. George
Arlesheim, 7 March 1920

Dear and esteemed teacher,

A letter has not arrived yet; it takes a long time from Stuttgart – perhaps it will come tomorrow.

Yesterday we had visitors from Dornach: the district court president and seven or eight other bigwigs. They were friendly and showed some understanding for the matter. Afterwards they bought various books. Some even carved something on the great Lucifer, which they found very amusing. They liked the models of the houses, I told them it was an attempt to alleviate the housing shortage, and that the idea was to build the houses very simply, without luxury, but with an architecture somewhat adapted to the construction site. They were very interested. We all tried to make a good impression. The court president seemed particularly benevolent to me, if it was genuine.

Today the weather changed, it is cold and raining, few visits to the construction site.

The plasterer has finally arrived, but we will hardly be finished with the renovation by the time you return.

Mrs. Drury-Lavin wrote that she visited my brother and liked him very much. Next Sunday he and Miss Word (the fiancée) should visit Mrs. D.L., and then she will see if it will be possible to give a lecture at the university. Today she had to give news to the group in London. Unfortunately, old Mrs. G. has given £1000 to found a British Society or (a British) center, she has given it to the Myrdin Group. Collison will be in London soon after Easter. The four Mystery Dramas will be performed in London in May or June; I have a letter from the Putnams because I want to know the titles for the poster.

Mrs. Drury-Lavin writes that she feels as if she has just left the spiritual world and has not yet become accustomed to this incarnation; the time in Dornach was too beautiful, she has drawn fresh courage for life there and is infinitely grateful for it. I wrote to her today.

Monday. Deep snow!

With warm greetings

Edith Maryon