Writings, 1946

The Puzzle Represents Eros

“Novel for the film by Ingmar Bergman,” reads the subtitle.

“I don’t think it can possibly hurt Martin or anyone else I can think of, if I tell this story.”

About the text

Script that would come to form the basis for Woman Without a Face

I don’t think it can possibly hurt Martin or anyone else I can think of, if I tell this story. It’s not too likely that he’ll happen to read this, or see it in America at the movies. And of the other concerned parties, there’s really only two that I happen to meet occasionally on the streets of Stockholm: Martin’s mother and father. Every evening, they take their postprandial walk along Karlavägen-Narvavägen, over the bridge to Djurgården and up to the statue. They look like they’ve been wound up and set upon their course, like they were motor-driven. I’ve had my suspicions about this for some time – perhaps it’s a refrigerator motor inside? They never read the newspaper, never go to the movies. Once a month they go to the opera, but as it so happens, this is no libretto.