In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

260 CODES
dream of a new aristocracy into a reality that is at once threatening and
appealing. This reality claims sadistic cruelty as a right, which it derives
from an indulgence in masochistic pleasures. Hans Grimm's geopolitical
novel Yolk ohne Raum (Nation without Space) brings together all these
features in a reading experience that is ultimately confusing. [see Center
vs. Periphery] As one critic writes, "It must be said that this is a manly
book. Not in the sense that women could not read it or could not be
captivated by it. For being manly is not a question of sex but a question
of character. Being manly is Tat instead of idle talking, self-control
instead of complaining. It is manly to shamefully hide one's innermost
feelings-for a woman or for one's fatherland-instead of making them
public. In this sense, Grimm's book is a manly book. And in this sense
there are still more than enough women in our confused times and in
our troubled nation-particularly, women who accept without complaint
a life that has become so difficult and harsh-who will read,
cherish, and respond deeply to this book . . . Yolk ohne Raum is not
literature in the sense of verbal art-it is Tat" (Strauss und Torney, 555).
Related Entries
Boxing, Bullfighting, Mountaineering, Center vs. Periphery, Individuality
vs. Collectivity, Male vs. Female, Present vs. Past, Silence vs. Noise,
Uncertainty vs. Reality, Authenticity = Artificiality (Life), Immanence =
Transcendence (Death), Individuality = Collectivity (Leader), Male =
Female (Gender Trouble)
References
Roberto Arlt, El juguete rabioso (1926). Buenos Aires, 1980.
Antonin Artaud, "Theatre Alfred Jarry: Premiere annee-Saison 1926-1927."
In Artaud, Oeuvres completes, vol. 2. Paris, 1961.
Karl Gustav Bittner, "Werdet deutsche Menschen!" Die Tat: Monatsschrift fur
die Zukunft deutscher Kultur 18 (1926): 502-518.
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises. New York, 1926.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1926). Munich, 1941.
Ernst Junger, Feuer und Blut: Ein kleiner Ausschnitt aus einer grossen Schlacht
(1926). Hamburg, 1941.
Fritz Lang, Metropolis (1926). New York, 1973.