Ofterdingen and Kropotkin

This historiography of sincere forgers is so strange that it is worth considering for a moment. We will see that if we pursue the problem of the forger, it becomes impossible to distinguish between the imaginary and the real. (P. Veyne, Did the Greeks believe in their Myths?, Chicago, 1988, p.103) || Merton unterscheidet behavioristisch unter sozialen "Abweichlern" folgendermaßen: Kreative (innovation), Aufsässige (rebellion), Überangepaßte (ritualism) und Sonderlinge (retreatism), eine Unterscheidung also, der unsere Typologie von Künstler, Revolutionär, Karrierist und Wahnsinnigem analog ist. (M. Schneider, Die kranke schöne Seele der Revolution, Frankfurt/Main, Syndikat, 1980, fn.9, p.261) || There is a story that the greatest scholar of Antiquity, Didymus, who had written more books than he could remember, became angry one day when someone told him a historical anecdote that in Didymus' opinion had no foundation. He relented when he was shown one of his own works in which the tale was said to be true. (P. Veyne, Did the Greeks believe in their Myths?, p.110) || Merton distinguishes between social "deviants" in the following way: innovative, rebellious, excessively conforming (ritualism), and misfits (retreatism). (M. Schneider, ibid., my transl.) || One of Choueiri's favorite cautionary tales is of an experiment conducted during the First World War, in which a tinny Victrola recording and an operatic soprano were cloaked in darkness at Carnegie Hall: the auditors were unable to tell one from the other. The audience's will to hear perfect sound mattered as much as the perception of the sound heard.(A. Gopnik, "Music to your ears", in The New Yorker, January 28, p34) || Und bringt nicht die "Agentur" der gesellschaftlichen Konformität gerade vier Prototypen bürgerlicher Existenz hervor, die in der Kinderstube eher die Subversion der Gesellschaft durch artistische Regelbeherrschung gelehrt worden sind: den Künstler, den Karrieristen, den Wahnsinngen und den Revolutionär? - And isn't it the "agency" of social conformity that brings forth the very four prototypes of bourgeois identity which during their bringing-up were taught the subversion of society by means of artistic control of the rules: the artist, the careerist, the mad, and the revolutionary? (M. Schneider, p.10, transl. mine) || Trying to decide whether to major in psychology or art history, I had gone to his office to see what he thought. He squinted and lowered his head: "Is this a hard choice for you?" Yes! I cried. "Oh," he said, springing back up cheerfully. "In that case, it doesn't matter. If it's a hard decision, then there's always lots to be said on both sides, so either choice is likely to be good in its way. Hard choices are always unimportant." (A. Gopnik, "Music to your ears", p.35)