In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

GOMINA lOS
industry transubstantiates into drinkable liquor: "Up to a point the
Cosmo Hair Tonic Company was legitimate. They advertised widely.
They even paid celebrities to endorse the product ... The conversion to
drinkable liquor took place in the basement of a flower shop under the
direction of a chemist we all called Karl the Dutchman, who was formerly
employed by a toothpaste manufacturer ... To fake scotch, bourbon,
rye or whatever, Karl would let the rectified alcohol stand for weeks
in charred barrels in which authentic whiskey had been aged" (Kobler,
307). Those literary protagonists who wear highly stylized hairdos and
elaborate headdresses tend to live at a pace and an intensity that help
them avoid depression and despondency. [see Bars] No other scenario
embodies this complex interaction between self-stylization, constant
risk, and incessant speed more impressively than the world of the-always
young and almost always successful-financial broker. He is continually
pressed to make quick decisions, and he has all the latest communication
techniques at his command [see Employees, Telephones,
Wireless Communication]: "At that moment the manager arrived, all
neat and polished, his hair shining, his face perfectly shaved ... He was
thirty-two years old and had hazel eyes. 'Get me Amsterdam,' he said,
and a few minutes later he heard the sounds being made at the home of
the manager of the Netherlands Bank, in Amsterdam" (Revista de Occidente,
2). [see Center = Periphery (Infinitude)]
In Thomas Mann's novella "Unordnung und friihes Leid" ("Disorder
and Early Sorrow"), a young stockbroker dances at the party organized
by the teenaged children of Professor Cornelius: "There is a tall, pale,
spindly youth, a dentist's son, who lives by playing the market. From all
the professor hears, he is a perfect Aladdin. He owns a car, treats his
friends to champagne dinners, and thinks nothing of showering them
with presents, expensive trifles in mother-of-pearl and gold" (Mann,
513). The author is equally fascinated by these shiny little gifts and by
the pale complexion of the broker-as well as by that of yet another
guest, the young actor Herzl, who plays character roles on the most
renowned German stages. Cornelius is trying to cope with what seems a
flagrant contradiction in Herzl's appearance. Although Herzl hides his
natural expression behind a skillfully applied mask of makeup, the professor
cannot help thinking that this makeup is meant to stand for a
certain mood in the actor's mind: "Herzl the actor is small and slight,
but he could grow a thick black beard, as you can tell by the heavy coat