[at-l] Shovelibng out the mailbox......

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> Oh, I see Shane of all people is quoting J.C.F.
> Schiller of all people!!
> Damn me to hell and back, it seems the NRA has
> upgraded its membership
> requirements somewhat,

Well, one must have standards!  Why, just the other night we
were drinking beer, shooting the cans, and reciting Yeats.

> at-l......and here I thought
> "Steinkamp" was an Irishman!

I am an American.  Of course, the bloodline is German, with
Jewish, Spanish, French, and American Indian blood in the
mix.  Oh, and Italian too...  I suppose I am a
Mutt-American.

> about stupidity, Shane said:
> "It was in his (Schiller's) 1795 work "On the
> Aesthetic Education of
> Man"...written in the aftermath of the reign of
> Terror.  The actual quote is
> "with stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain."
>
> cares that the quote is
> actually from the play "Die Jungfrau von Orleans"
> (Act III, scene VI for
> those keeping score); it wasn't written til 1801;
> and it is generally
> translated as "Against stupidity the very gods
> themselves contend in vain."

After carefully checking my 1893 edition of Schillers
Saemtliche Werke (the whole 16 volume set published by I. G.
Gottaschen), I find that you are correct.  The quote from
BRIEFE ÜBER DIE ÄESTHETISCHE ERZIEHUNG DES MENSCHEN that I
was thinking of was (translated) “extreme stupidity and
extreme intelligence have a certain affinity with each
other, that both seek only the real and are wholly
insensible to mere appearance.”  Which might have some
application to this list at times...

I can only think that this error was brought about by my
failing memory, which, in turn, has been brought about by
reading Dr. Seuss to my daughter.

>    On the whole, I'd have done better to have
> spent my college years
> hiking.........

If it makes you feel better, Schiller probably would have
agreed with you.  In WILHELM TELL (1803), about the Swiss
hero of that name, Schiller paid tribute to freedom and the
dignity of men living close to nature. - "The mountain
cannot frighten one who was born on it."

Many apologies for any inconvenience my misaccredation of
Shillers work may have caused, and thanks to Dr. Tarlin for
setting me right.  (And no, I don't own the whole set in the
original German...)

Herr Shane