Letter from Edward Renouf to Anny Schey von Koromla

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15 September

Dear Baroness Schey!

The sense that you’re standing on top of the world, knowing you have all mankind’s burdens and its fragile culture beneath you; greeting the sun, the sky, the wind and the clouds at such close quarters; and yet, through the open fissures, crevices and caves in the mountains, still having the secrets of the earth so near! I left here around 5:45, climbing with the rising sun, higher and higher through aromatic forests of fir trees, and by nine o’clock I was standing on the highest point of the Kellerjoch. On the way up I had to wait half an hour for a coffee at the Rodelhütte. The most beautiful stretch runs around the lodge and on up to the col. The air, the sunlight breaking through the bare, dark, mossy firs, the ever changing view of distant peaks in shades of blue and red, others glistening in the snow – all this was coursing through my veins like the most divine elixir. Just one wish went unfulfilled – that you, in person, might suddenly appear to share the absurd beauty of this world with me. And this wish still awaits its fulfilment. When you come for a little longer we can spend the night at the Rodelhütte and from there climb up to the col at five o’clock in the morning!

I hope you won’t let society in Munich become too burdensome and that you won’t be overcome with fatigue, which could deprive you of the creative energy you need to imagine and implement changes in your life, to rise above your old habits and, as far as humanly possible, become the master of your own fate. But if you’re with dear friends who are entertaining and easy to get along with, where each respects the carefree quirks of the other without them ever doing any harm – if that’s the case then you’re fortunate indeed!

If you could still dispose of the flat – and surely you can! – you could do away with all your obligations and duties in Munich at a stroke!

There’s a note here from the post office. I’m supposed to pick up some American breakfast foods. My joy is a hundred little swallows, all chirping in one little cage! If I may now say so, I thank you, Baroness Schey!

– Edl

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