“A fine teacher, but didn’t publish.”
–Quoted by George Steiner, in Lessons of the Masters, p. 33. Steiner observes, “A cardinal definition of genius points, I believe, to the capacity to originate myths, to devise parables. This capacity is exceedingly rare. It marks Kafka rather than Shakespeare, Wagner rather than Mozart. Platonic-Socratic myths, such as that of the Cave, the mustard-seed or prodigal son parables of Jesus, share certain features. They are open-ended in that they provoke inexhaustible multiplicities and potentialities of interpretation. They keep the human spirit off-balance.”
