The Arcades Project - Operi

The Arcades Project - Operi The Arcades Project - Operi

07.04.2013 Views

queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties. So far as it is a value in use, there is nothing mysterious about it. . .. The form of wood is altcred by making a table out of it; nevertheless, this table remains wood, an ordinary material thing. As soon as it steps forth as commodity, however, it is transformed into a material immaterial thing. It not only stands with its feet on the ground, but, in the face of all other commodities, it stands on its head, and out of its wooden brain it evolves notions more whimsically than if it had suddenly begun to dance."25 Cited in Franz Mehring, Karl Marx und das Gleichnis," in Karl Marx als Denker; Mensch, und Revolutioniir, ed. Rjazanov (Vienna and Berlin

le tomb . ... But what appalled me the most was that, on raising my eyes (altogether by chance) to the gallery surrounding this valley of death I noticed not just an extraordinary likeness but a complete identity between the several kingpins playing the life-sized game and the miniature humans struggling there on the tahIe . ... What's more, these kingpins ... appeared to me . .. to collapse in desperation precisely as their childlike facsimiles were overtaken hy the formidable rake. They seemed to share . .. all the sensations of their little doubles; and never, for as long as I live will I forget the look and the gesture-full of hatred and despair-which one of those gamhlers directed toward the hank at the very moment that his tiny simulacrum coralled by the rake went to satisfy the ravenous appetite of the croupier." Felix Mornand, La Vie des eaux (Paris, 1862), pp. 219- 221 ("Aix-Ia-Chapelle"). [GI4] It would be useful to compare the way Grandville portrays machines to the way Chevalier, in 1852, still speaks of the railroad. He calculates that two locomo­ tives, having a total of 400 horsepower, would correspond to 800 actual horses. How would it be possible to harness them up? How supply the fodder? And, in a note, he adds: "It must also be kept in mind that horses of flesh and blood have to rest after a brief journey; so that to furnish the same service as a locomotive, one must have on hand a very large number of animals:' Michel Chevaliel; Chemins deftr: Extrait du dictionnaire de I'economie politique (paris, 1852), p. 10. [GI4a,l] The principles informing the exhibition of objects in the Galm'ie des Machines of 1867 were derived from Le Play. [GI4a,2] A divinatory representation of architectural aspects of the later world exhibitions is found in Gogo!'s essay "On Present-Day Architecture;' which appeared in the mid-Thirties in his collection Arabesques. ''Away with this academicism which commands that buildings be built all one size and in one style! A city should consist of many different styles of building, if we wish it to be pleasing to the eye. Let as many contrasting styles combine there as possible! Let the solemn Gothic and the richly embellished Byzantine arise in the sanle street, alongside colossal Egyptian halls and elegantly proportioned Greek structures! Let us see there the slightly concave milk-white cupola, the soaring church steeple, the oriental miter, the Italianate flat roof, the steep and heavily ornamented Flemish roof, the quad­ rilateral pyTarnid, the cylindrical column, the faceted obelisk!"" Nikolai Gogol, "Sur l'Architecture du temps present;' cited in Wladinrir Weidk, Les Abeilles d'Aristie (paris

queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties. So far<br />

as it is a value in use, there is nothing mysterious about it. . .. <strong>The</strong> form of wood is<br />

altcred by making a table out of it; nevertheless, this table remains wood, an<br />

ordinary material thing. As soon as it steps forth as commodity, however, it is<br />

transformed into a material immaterial thing. It not only stands with its feet on the<br />

ground, but, in the face of all other commodities, it stands on its head, and out of<br />

its wooden brain it evolves notions more whimsically than if it had suddenly begun<br />

to dance."25 Cited in Franz Mehring, Karl Marx und das Gleichnis," in Karl<br />

Marx als Denker; Mensch, und Revolutioniir, ed. Rjazanov (Vienna and Berlin<br />

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