Today I attended a symposium about my own work.
It was an alienating experience.
After the inaugural speech of professor Goud (his speech was about my work in relationship to Dostoevsky) a man with a moustache pinched me in my arm.
“You feel pretty honored, don’t you?”

I nodded.

He pinched harder.

I thought of the philosopher Kołakowski, who said that you have to be rather superficial in order to never think of yourself as a con man.