In 1824, after the first version of Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing appeared, Eichendorff expressed hope that it “would be good for something after all“ and that “the poor lad will have some success”. Around 160 years later, an Offenbach schoolgirl rejected this idea in a curt verdict written on the cover of her Reclam edition: “Good for nothing!” The reader later became an author herself – and revised her earlier opinion of the story.