Kleinzeit's physical illness and his creative urges are linked in the novel, an identification strengthened by the fact that all the diseases suffered by patients on Kleinzeit's ward (ward A4, like the paper) are literary, geometric or musical terms: he himself has a painful hypotenuse and diapason and develops a faulty stretto, while other patients suffer from hendiadys or ‘imbricated noumena’.
In the novel, Kleinzeit's physical illness is intertwined with his creative urges. This connection is highlighted by the fact that all the illnesses experienced by patients on his ward (ward A4, like the paper) are literary, geometric, or musical terms.  Kleinzeit himself suffers from a painful hypotenuse and diapason, while other patients experience hendiadys or 'imbricated noumena'.