Many years ago, I purchased an EDGAR ALLAN POE action figure.

 
On the back of the box, they had printed a few so-called "interesting facts" about him, where, amongst other things, it was stated that he once held a record in swimming several miles upstream (as in against the current) in some river somewhere in Virginia.

I found this to be interesting indeed, rather surprising even, because I had somehow, at least subconsciously, always thought of Poe (due to projection, not because of any actual research) as a, well,

gothic

vegetable

(to put it bluntly). A brilliant mind, sure ... great imagination and all, obviously ... but as a person also kind of ... well, "poe-ish."  ;)

So, now I began to wonder:
 

What, if ... yes, WHAT IFFFF ... what if everything we

think

we know about Poe is, in fact, completely and utterly wrong? What if, in reality, he was actually impressively masculine and hunky as fuck, super athletic and an all around hot, butch stud?

This, in turn, made me question what we really know about anyone, anyway ... and where these supposed "facts" come from, especially when it concerns "historic" (or

cultural

in the widest sense) characters.
 
When you have never personally met someone, then all you really have is

hearsay

, and given the fact that most people are idiots, downright insane and/or have an agenda, you pretty much

have

to assume that everything you have ever heard is most likely at least 50% bullshit.

Would we even be able to handle this truth?!

Luckily, though, when it comes to artists, none of this really matters, because, in the end, it is the

art

itself

that counts ... or rather our individual

perception

of it ... and everything else is basically just cute icing on the cake.
 
Still, through the years, this initial question stayed with me, and every now and then something happened that made me think of it.

Some years ago, for example, I saw a

for a planned documentary about Rozz Williams (which, as far as I know, never actually came to be), and towards the end of it, they included an interview with one of his childhood friends (or mere acquaintance? neighbour?), and I just thought:

What

the fuck.

 
I mean, yes, when you try to tell a story and there is only a limited amount of information available (or you try to set yourself apart), you will have to scrape the bottom of the barrel at some point, I suppose. But that is exactly what I am saying. It is always somebody's more or less distorted narrative.

Consequently, I couldn't help but wonder:

What would all this look like in the case of SOPOR?

What (story) will be left of

me

, once I am gone?

Well, there is the

music

, obviously, and a handful of photos, but that is it, really. And even these things can be manipulate and distorted (and most likely

will

be).
 
An acquaintance of mine from the USA once told me that "IN DER PALÄSTRA" was his favourite SOPOR AETERNUS song. However, he couldn't actually remember either of the two things correctly (if he ever even knew them in the first place). Instead, what he said was:

"You know, my favourite song of yours is that

song"

, and in this moment I thought:

"Oh, great.

THAT

is what Anna-Varney will be remembered as: a grotesquely pathetic, sexually confused, depressive transgender freak, who hates men!"

Admittedly, though ... this wouldn't be

entirely

wrong.  Ha!  

;)

Anyway, one night, I was somewhat semi-curious (and possibly bored) and went to ask one of the early (and rather crappy) text-to-image A.I. softwares to generate

myself

for me!
 
Since "The Internet" is (and will be) the way things are being "remembered" these days, I prompted the A.I. to produce images of "

Anna-Varney Cantodea

" and "

SOPOR AETERNUS

" (with these words being my

only

prompts).
 

Though the results were of terrible quality, they completely confirmed my theory.

I did find all this mildly amusing (albeit in a

sad

sort of way), and since it was related to the theme I was occupied with at the time, I edited the images and created a

SOPOR AETERNUS version

of the game "MEMORY" (or "Pairs"):

The game consists of

72-84 cards

(as in 36-42 pairs), depending on the size of the final box.
Here are

some

of those cards:

Naturally, since this game would be a total

niche

product (even waaaay more so than SOPOR's wonderfully fabulous "

ALONE AT SAMS - Not Everyone has to be alive

"

), it will

never

actually be manufactured ... which, in turn, makes the whole thing even sadder.