6 8 D O C U M E N T 5 6 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 7 Listen: Mother’s bellowing that it’s time to eat. He comes tumbling in, stuffs the food down, very little of it. From the kitchen, doesn’t get enough Clean belt and bayonet Then room. Rip off clothes. Put on leg bindings, Jacket. Full-dress getup! Long pause! But betrays great haste! Muffled rage chuck clothes. Cry: “Damn, already half-past one!” Door slams. He approaches Come on strong! Colorfully flagged: Map bag, cockades, four Powder bags. adornments, decorations, Come on strong! March in step. Knock. Word drones. Eye emits flashes. Body expands, enveloped In the mantle (like a shroud): Ready for battle, useful for victory! Recited with the proper force, this poem has a powerful effect. I have no idea when I should do my homework. I think I’ll write to you about a school day. If I have a terrible day at school tomorrow, I’ll blame it on you. The school day. The first thing I see is that the maidservant, slipping out of her room, is hastily slithering down the corridor. I repress this and go hastily back to sleep, in order to quickly bring an already-begun dream to a satisfactory end. I’ve almost finished when the maid begins to call. I repress. Suddenly the lamp, turned on by the maid, is staring me in the face. The dream is so completely erased that not even a scrap of it remains to allow me to think of it. My technique for interpre- tation is great. I interpret all my friends’ dreams,[5] but when they dream they are going up a staircase, I don’t tell them what that means. I got my knowledge out of Interpretation of Dreams. I don’t know whether you can accept that I am reading such books. I believe you should prevent me from reading Lessing and Gottfried Keller.[6] My interpretations have made me quite famous at school. Professor