In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

186 ARRAYS
national reputation as an outstanding representative of "literary sobriety"
[see Sobriety vs. Exuberance]: "Kisch is a pleasant sort of nonlitterateur,
experiencer, observer, seeker of facts. His book Der rasende Reporter
outweighs volumes of novellas with its sensational materials, the
rhythm and tempo of its style, the plasticity of its form, its tragedy and
humor, its incisiveness and wit" (Kisch, 361).
What explains the insistence on Erleben in all this enthusiasm about
Kisch's prose? Normally translated as "lived experience," the word Erleben
is emerging as a key concept in phenomenological philosophy,
where it is defined as distinct from Erfahrung ("experience") and also
from Wahrnehmung (" perception"). Whereas "perception" refers to the
mere apprehension of the world by the senses, "experience" includes
both the act and the result of interpreting the perceived world on the
basis of previously acquired knowledge. Erleben is situated between
"perception" and "experience." It adds to perception the focusing on
what is being perceived, but it does not include interpretation. Erleben
is more than just sensory contact with the environment-but less than
the transformation of the closely regarded environment into concepts. Its
philosophical definition explains why Erleben is considered so important
for the reporter. No substitutes for Erleben can be found through concepts
or through the transmission of knowledge: it requires that the
observer be physically near the object observed. The reporter must be a
participant-observer. [see Uncertainty vs. Reality] This condition makes
plausible the general assumption that the reporter's role is linked to the
high level of social mobility in American society: "In America, students
work during the holidays as farmers, waiters, telegraph employees; doctors
work as farmers. Almost everyone works at a dozen professions, and
people acquire a clear understanding of their social existence-an existence
to which, from childhood on, they are connected by a hundred
threads" (Lania, 323). A good reporter is actively familiar with certain
sectors of everyday life-as is, for example, the famous French athlete
Geo Andre, who has become a journalist for the magazines La Vie au
grand air and Le Miroir des sports (Annees-memoire, 119).
Whereas traditional truth-claims depend on a distance between the
observer and the world-a mode of living which Lania despises as "second-hand"
(322)-the fact that reporters are concerned with lived experience
means that there is an emphasis on physicality in their public
image. Reporters are constantly stimulating their senses with cigarettes