In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

270 CODES
to the competitor who produces faster and more recklessly. This is the
obverse of our historical moment, in which the dominance of machine
over mankind, of servant over master, finally becomes evident" (Junger,
23-24). Only a few pages further, however, he describes how a young
soldier, absolutely certain of his impending death in action, laughingly
throws away a half-filled bottle of wine. Junger is so deeply moved by
this gesture that his feelings go to the opposite extreme: "Man is superior
to matter as long as he can face it with a proper attitude, as long as he
is unable to imagine an aspect of those external powers that could break
the resistance of a courageous heart" (26). As if in accordance with an
underlying logic, junger's book ends with the fusion of matter and man:
"Ahead of us is our strongest weapon and symbol, the towering wall of
fire and steel. At this moment it is our likeness: a unity, but a unity
consisting of gleaming atoms. Its hot, shouting breath longs for us,
seduces us into the marriage of weapon and body" (138).
Related Entries
Airplanes, Americans in Paris, Assembly Lines, Bars, Boxing, Cremation,
Dancing, Employees, Endurance, Engineers, Gomina, Railroads, Reporters,
Revues, Stars, Timepieces, Action vs. Impotence, Immanence vs.
Transcendence, Sobriety vs. Exuberance, Action = Impotence (Tragedy),
Male = Female (Gender Trouble)
References
Georges Bernanos, So us Ie soleil de Satan (1926). Paris, 1973.
Massimo Bontempelli, "Contributions to the Great Debate on Fascism and
Culture in Critica Fascista" (1926). Stanford Italian Review 8 (1990):
248-250.
Jorge Luis Borges, El taman a de mi esperanza (1926). Buenos Aires, 1993.
Bertoit Brecht, Mann ist Mann (1926). In Brecht, Cesammelte Werke, vol 1.
Frankfurt, 1967.
F. G. Carnochan and Hans Christian Adamson, The Empire of the Snakes.
London, 1935.
A. S. Eddington, The Internal Constitution of the Stars. Cambridge, 1926.
Otto Hartmann, "Zur Metaphysik des kiinstlerischen Tanzes." Die Tat 18, no.
1 (April-September 1926): 237-238.
Marcel Jouhandeau, Monsieur Cadeau Intime. Paris, 1926.