42. Blood is a Very Special Fluid
GA 68b/1906-11-30/p021
·1906-11-30
·
English
HighHigh alignmentThis translation's paragraph count matches the German original — the locus maps cleanly to the same paragraph in DE.
Record: listeners' notes. Written from listeners' notes, summaries, or memory rather than a shorthand transcript. The wording is the note-taker's as much as Steiner's: weigh a single striking phrase here far more cautiously than the same phrase in a stenographic volume, and do not rest an argument on one word. Evidence: «Da keine professionellen Stenogramme vorliegen, handelt es sich oftmals um notizenhaft festgehaltene Zusammenfassungen oder Berichte.» (Since no professional shorthand transcripts exist, these are often summaries or reports kept in the form of notes.). The publisher's description of the volume, as mirrored on AnthroWiki (GA 68b). The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one.
How does one influence the blood? I would like to refer to a conversation between two well-known men: Anzengruber, the playwright, and Rosegger, the writer who portrayed Austrian rural life. Anzengruber spent his whole life in the city – and yet, with what genius he brought the figures of the rural world to the stage! Rosegger said to him: “Perhaps it would be better for you to study the farmers.” To which Anzengruber replied: “I wouldn't be able to do that; I can't do it by observation, it's in my blood. My ancestors were farmers, and when I am left to myself, it takes care of itself.”
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