In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

MOUNTAINEERING 139
berger: "How would Fanck determine the sleeping arrangements? Normally
two people would have slept on each bed, but since Fanck insisted
on taking the upper bunk for himself, Trenker, Schneeberger, and I had
to share the lower mattress. As a result, the room was filled with nervous
tension and I couldn't fall asleep, nor could Trenker. Now and then,
when Fanck fitfully rolled about overhead, I could hear the creaking of
the wooden boards. The first person to doze off was Schneeberger, but,
lying between him and Trenker, I didn't dare to move. After remaining
awake for hours on end, however, I must have been overwhelmed at last
by fatigue" (52ff.). The troubles and tensions, accidents and catastrophes
continue until the crew and cast arrive in Berlin for the premiere of their
film. The atmosphere of the big city has a healing, unifying effect on the
male rivals and their female object of desire. But there is a price attached
to this new solidarity. Berlin's world of fast-moving surfaces [see Dancing,
Movie Palaces] lacks the existential intensity that so naturally comes
from encounters with crevasses, deadly cold, and mountain peaks.
Related Entries
Boxing, Bullfighting, Cremation, Dancing, Gramophones, Movie Palaces,
Mummies, Murder, Polarities, Authenticity vs. Artificiality, Present
vs. Past, Silence vs. Noise, Action = Impotence (Tragedy), Immanence =
Transcendence (Eternity), Present = Past (Eternity)
References
Antologia de Blanco y Negro, 1891-1936, vol. 9. Madrid, 1986.
Johannes R. Becher, Maschinenrhythmen. Berlin, 1926.
Berliner Morgenpost.
Caras y Caretas.
Hart Crane, White Buildings. New York, 1926.
Martin Heidegger and Elisabeth Blochmann, Briefwechsel, 1918-1969. Marbach,
1989.
Egon Erwin Kisch, Die Hetzjagd: Eine Tragikomodie in funf Akten des K.u.K.
Generalstabs. In Hetzjagd durch die Zeit. Berlin, 1926.
Egon Erwin Kisch, "Verbrechen in den Hochalpen." In Kisch, Hetzjagd durch
die Zeit. Berlin, 1926.
Theodor Lessing, "Psychologie des Rauchens" (1926). In "Ich warf eine