... as opposed to artifactual.

So, what am I supposed to say or feel when people send me an e-mail asking if I
am the "real" Ken Follett? In order to avoid the question I have taken on the
name of one of my characters who then goes out and writes a rather poorly
written story about an imaginary Ken Follett who wants to write like the famous
Ken Follett whom he imagines to exist, as imaginary as people walking on the
moon or a hollow earth, that is in turn a Ken Follett that is inaccessible and
legendary and won't answer my invitations to lunch. Where is this authentic?
Actually, my interest is in mimesis, wherein we attain to fake the authentic,
for fun and pleasure; like with the legendary faked orgasms of brown trout I
recently discover has been studied and reported upon, though not in Ladies Home
Journal.

Leland Torrence wrote:

> Hey there resto buddies.... this is fun.
> Latin:
> "auctoritas" one of my favorite words and ancestor to authenticity.  At
> first meaning power, authority, later creativity and originality and still
> later the soul, heart: the being.  To have it said that you had or had
> attained auctoritas you had reached the knowblest plain.
> "Augeo, Augere":  to make grow or to increase as in the size of an army. And
> Auctor:  original family member.
> Someone said for a thing to be authentic it must have the authority of its
> originator.  And more, something authentic has primacy.
>     The issue is when you take too much away you no longer have the thing or
> object that was original.  I say: everything is authentic until proven fake
> beyond a shadow of a doubt.
>     Authenticity is like honor and integrity:  they're genuine.
> And thrat's that.
> Best,
> Leland