Tuesday, June 15:
A good night for R., but still a mountain of worries. I go to see Herr Gross to discuss the tiresome question; there is nothing one will be able to do.
At lunch, thank goodness, King Lear - how full of genius the first scene, how wise artistically! Looking back one feels that the recklessness with which Gloucester speaks of the birth of Edmund, like any cavalier, is the cause of his downfall. Did Shakespeare plan it exactly like that? Or did he make many corrections, like Beethoven? He had his sketches in front of him, made corrections in them.
Over coffee discussed the Jesuits; R. imagines a meeting with their general, how the latter would certainly tell him, “To achieve what you want calls for obedience and discipline.” A play attacking the Jesuits has just been sent to R.