Ofterdingen and Kropotkin

The current amazement that the things we are experiencing are "still" possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. This amazement is not the beginning of knowledge — unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable. (W. Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History", Thesis VIII) || Finally, in June, his excesses led to arrest on charges of drunken rowdiness. He served a one-night sentence for this on June 16, 1836. (M. Rubel & M. Manale, Marx without myth, Blackwell, 1975, p.11) || For my own part, of the many wonderful tales Mohr told me, the most wonderful, the most delightful one, was “Hans Röckle.” It went on for months and months; it was a whole series of stories. [...] Hans Röckle himself was a Hoffmann-like magician, who kept a toyshop, and who was always “hard up.” His shop was full of the most wonderful things — of wooden men and women, giants and dwarfs, kings and queens, workmen and masters, animals and birds as numerous as Noah got into the Arc, tables and chairs, carriages, boxes of all sorts and sizes. And though he was a magician, Hans could never meet his obligations either to the devil or the butcher, and was therefore — much against the grain — constantly obliged to sell his toys to the devil. These then went through wonderful adventures — always ending in a return to Hans Röckle’s shop. (Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Biographical Notes on Marx’s Literary Interests: link)