MM T 2784. Sketchbook

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MM T 2784, p. 0-R

MM T 2784, p. 0-Ri

MM T 2784, p. 1

    A letter arrived –
Miss L  is prostrate will illness – Come immediately –
I implore You – last night she
awakened me and said – I do not
believe he will come – I am
so unhappy – Half an Hour
later I heard moaning – I
went in – and found her
critically ill – on the Table were
empty bottles of Morphine – She was
ice cold – I thought she was going to
die – She uttered Your
Name – I gave her Coffee as
an Antidote – and she vomited
throughout the entire Night –

MM T 2784, p. 3

she is better – but come
immediately – [in] hope of rescuing her
– He held the Letter in his
Hand terrified – and baffled –
– She loved him – to Death
it seems – and now she is on
the brink of Death – because she cannot
live without – him –
– How terribly she must have suffered –
– and he forgot all that he
had endured – and what he
had considered her contemptible behaviour

MM T 2784, p. 5

Homansbyen

    Yes but when she is on the brink of death
it is not possible to do
otherwise than to try to help her –
Oh just let her die –
Go to Germany –

MM T 2784, p. 13

    If an Agreement can be reached
I would like to have a small
Collection of Paintings (approximately 10 pieces)
and a Collection of 20 to 30 Engravings
go on Tour to Norway’s small
Towns –

    In order for this to be viable
I would like to suggest that one could guarantee
a Sale of a minimum of
200 Kroner for the Engravings –

    You may perhaps

MM T 2784, p. 14 

be aware that my
Art is in such great Conflict with
Public Taste that I must
strive in this Manner
to have my Works
 … 

MM T 2784, p. 19

    Spring has arrived at last –
When the Sun appeared it
shone for longer and longer intervals –
– But the Cold and the Snow
from the North would not relinquish their
Grip – would not leave
the frozen Earth – which they had
reigned over for so many
Months – Great dark Troops
[of clouds] continued to hover threateningly
above the Hills North of
Frognerseteren –

    – When the Sun burned
The dark Winter clouds
retreated behind them – but came storming

MM T 2784, p. 21

back again as the Afternoon lengthened
– Covering the entire Sky –
There towards the South – Enchanted
Clouds shone with Southerly winds
and an Italian Sun – Cloud Castles
ablaze with the Sun –

    They hovered there waiting for the
opportunity to come and spill their
Heat over the frozen Earth –
and for the Strength to chase
– the Winter clouds away –

    – In the Afternoon when the Sun
was high – they dispersed their
white Cherubic clouds – across the
shimmering blue Air – A warm

MM T 2784, p. 23

Wind from Italy made one’s
mind frail – and strangely sad –
– The Snow melted the Streams
gushed Sparkling Pearls of water
dripped from the Roofs –
The Earth softened –
Spring had arrived –
But as the Afternoon lengthened
the Winter clouds clenched
their mighty Fists in Loathing
and defiance
blue-black – lead grey they
raged with renewed Strength
across the Vault of the sky – and the
Cherubic clouds from the South – were banished

MM T 2784, p. 25

MM T 2784, p. 32

    The absent-minded one –
Has a habit of saying – pay
– he pays and forgets –
hello Waiter – he pays –
until his Pocket is empty of Money

    – Hello Waiter – a Beer –
Over and over – in the end without
looking up merely with a wave of the Hand
– summoning the Waiter – and
pointing to the empty Glass
He falls off his Chair –

MM T 2784, p. 30

The Yellow House

    A sticky stained yellow Colour
that looked morose against the
dark Forest –

    Up there on the second Floor he
occupied two small Rooms –
Stained a sticky Yellow – dejected
and unsightly

    But the View overlooking the Fjord

MM T 2784, p. 28

with the Spruce tops in front
and the Islets further out
was beautiful – sadly
beautiful –

    – There in the two Rooms
he paced to and fro –
to and fro – then a long Walk
– then once again to and fro across the Floor
until it was Bedtime – How he
hated that Bed – his Torture rack
– he lay down there – to
fall Asleep – only to awaken again
– Was it Morning – he looks at
the Clock – 1 – no – only 1 Hour’s Sleep

MM T 2784, p. 26

All he could do was toss and
turn in the Bed – those
long long Nocturnal hours
with thousands of sinister Thoughts
until at last – at last – the Morning
arrived – and then once again to Pace
to and fro – until yet another
long sleepless Night arrived –

    – He was reclusive –
did not wish to see anyone –
The Other Residents ate
together downstairs. The
Melancholic the epileptic
and all the others – Below him

MM T 2784, p. 24

lay the Landlady with the
lame Legs

MM T 2784, p. 27

    He waited for Spring and Summer
– so that his Bronchitis would be cured –
and Sleep and Health could return –

    When the black snow clouds from the North
Prevailed – so that it snowed and rained and was windy
for several days – he became ill – and so tired that he
could barely walk –

    He met the consumptive Merchant
– who lived in the Villa next Door –

    Now I have caught a cold he said –
have lain in bed for 5 Days – Cough up phlegm all Day long

MM T 2784, p. 29

– Nor can I eat – I only
vomit –

    How much do You weigh –
I weigh only 110  – like a Child –
– If only Spring would arrive

    I visited him the following Day
– He sat at his Desk –
I am just writing my Testament –
We have no Children – and my Wife shall inherit from me –
– I knew that he had been
writing these Testaments for 2 years

MM T 2784, p. 31

    When his Wife had been good
he left the House to his
Wife –

    When she had annoyed him
he tore it to Pieces –
– He looked terrible spit into
a Glass by his Side which was full of
Phlegm –

    Brandt  uttered a Couple of words and then
left –

MM T 2784, p. 33

    He took a walk in the
dark Spruce forest – and then went
home to his Room –

    – A Message was brought up to him from the Landlady
– Would You be so kind as to look at
the Bill – she would like to have the Money now
– By the way she is very ill – may
not survive

    B . made the payment and sent his greetings –
– She sent a Message back returning the greeting and thanking him
In the Evening she was dead

MM T 2784, p. 2

    The following day Brandt  woke up –
– went out onto the Porch

    Spring had arrived – golden white
Clouds from the Kingdom of the Sun
chased the Glacial Forces Northward towards
the Mountains – to Jotunheimen – and Rondane
– Nature was full of mirth – The Fjord out there
vaporous Blue Hills – The crowns of the Spruce
and all the sprouting green –

    – Brandt went out –

    A coffin was being transported by a Wagon –
it was the Landlady – She had asked to
be brought to the City at once so as not to
Disturb the Guests

MM T 2784, p. 35

    This Hellish Brew brewed
from the Blood of the Plant Wine
– blended with the Female Vampire’s
Venom – It was a scorching
Brew – in the Machinery of the Brain where
the Brain’s Cell tissue expanded
on the boiled bloated Cell wall
a Devilishly confused Script
was imprinted as on a Phonograph –
– The Cell tissue that was inflated
like a Balloon at the point of
bursting – collapsed like
a crumpled Leaf – only to be

MM T 2784, p. 36

boiled and expand once more – to burn
and scream like a Choir of Devils
in Hell – and a funeral pyre
of the Plant’s Corpses
– The Tobacco sent its
overpowering and noxious Ashes
– that polluted the Atmosphere
into the Cranium’s wounded
and bleeding corridors and Laby-
rinths

MM T 2784, p. 37

    He sat in the middle of the large
crowded Café – staring straight
out into Space
As soon as he had
emptied a Glass – without looking at
the Waiter he called out – Another Glass and
a Cigar –

    In the end he merely
gestured with his Hand and
a full glass and new Cigar arrived

    – Olsen  came over – Listen
Miss  …  asked me to say that she
would like to buy a Picture from
you – She is  …  going
to marry Kavli 
Gunnar Heiberg  and SB   …   … 

MM T 2784, p. 39

The Blood rushed up to his
Head – A Devilishly confused
Concoction of Tobacco of Wine
– and Female devilry inflated
his Cell tissue – [like a]
swollen Balloon – and a
Hellish music began to play
– He saw a Man’s
Face staring at
him –

    He held a bloody
Hand in the Air –
He was in the Street

MM T 2784, p. 40

    My Soul is nothing but two wild Horses
that tear me asunder each [pulling] in separate Directions

    A Bird of Prey has sunk
its Claws into my Heart.
its Beak has carved a
hole in my Breast
– Its Wing-beats have
obscured my Reason
– My Soul is split
in two – like wild Doves
they each fly in their own Direction

    You are merely [an image] in my poor
bleeding Brain

    You are an Image inscribed in
my overwrought Cell tissue

MM T 2784, p. 99-V