In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

10 ARRAYS
perately to keep control of his nerves. He was outwardly calm, but it
could be seen that he was fighting for self-control. Yet his spirit was just
as strong as ever." The Frenchman is the first to regain his composure:
"I have been through many more dangerous experiences," he says with
a shrug (New York Times, September 22).
In a new children's book called Winnie-the-Pooh, a collection of tales
about a teddy bear and his human friend Christopher Robin, the first
story ironically mimics the double-edged feelings and words of heroic
aviators. Like a pilot competing to set a world record for altitude, Pooh
floats "gracefully up into the sky" holding on to Christopher Robin's big
green balloon. Although he never manages to reach the honey in the
beehive that he spies at the top of a tree, the bear proudly imagines how
his friends must see him from the ground: "Isn't that fine?" shouts Pooh
down to Christopher Robin. "What do I look like?" "You look like a
bear holding on to a balloon," says Christopher Robin. "Not," says
Pooh anxiously, "not like a small black cloud in a blue sky?" Once the
bees discover Pooh, he naturally wishes to terminate his flight with all
possible speed. Since he doesn't dare jump, Christopher Robin shoots the
balloon with his toy gun-though he first hits Pooh by mistake. "The air
came slowly out, and Winnie-the-Pooh floated down to the ground"
(World of Pooh, 17ff.).
Related Entries
Automobiles, Boxing, Engineers, Polarities, Roof Gardens, Stars, Wireless
Communication; Action = Impotence (Tragedy), Center = Periphery
(Infinitude), Immanence = Transcendence (Death), Present = Past (Eternity)
References
Les Annees-memoire: 1926. Paris, 1988.
Roberto Arlt, EI juguete rabioso (1926). Madrid, 1985.
Berliner Tageblatt.
Berliner Volks-Zeitung.
Caras y Caretas.
Jean Cocteau, Orphee: Tragedie en un acte (1926). Paris, 1927.
Chronik 1926: Tag fur Tag in Wort und Bild. Dortmund, 1985.