Herluf Ben had an article accepted by Shrink without having a relevant completed education, without being widely known and, most importantly, without seeming particularly gifted.
Herluf, what’s the dumbest one you’ve ever heard?
“Undoubtedly this.”
And what is that?
“That we form a realistic picture of another person in only 30 seconds. Therefore, my book is called Street of Appearances. We live in an age where you look like and act like the population group you belong to. I oppose this by wearing off-the-peg clothes and moving very carefully and observingly when I enter into a room with other people. My book is therefore about the old days.”
When were the old days?
“From 1789 to 1875.”
From the French Revolution to the year of H. C. Andersen’s death and before the modern breakthrough?
“That’s right.”
Herluf Ben, how did people look after each other in the old days?
“In the old days, we looked after one another by looking at moods and psychiatric diagnoses. Today we look at people and psychiatric diagnoses. Therefore, in the old days people and psychiatric diagnoses were not confused like today when we call each other ‘a quite irritating person’. In other words, there were no annoying people in the old days. You did not see people who were an appearance or a particularly recognizable or trendy way of living. In short, people were interested in each other.”
It’s noisy in here.
“Yes. I have a situation with my stomach. ”
No.
“Yes.”
It’s creaking.
