In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

316 CODES
term models with teleological implications. Using the generation-concept
to distinguish the Present from the Past is a form of historico-philosophical
minimalism. It is not surprising, then, that scholars frequently explain
their preference for this concept with negative arguments. For the art
historian Wilhelm Pinder, who declares he does not believe in "rigid
intellectual systems," the generation as a temporal form recommends
itself through its mere "practicability" (Pinder, xvii). In setting apart the
generation-concept from the concept of society, the literary critic Julius
Petersen hopes to minimize the level of abstraction in his description of
the German Romantics-as a generation (Petersen, 132, 140). Walter
Benjamin sees the current interest in the generation-concept as the outcome
of a theological style of thinking (Benjamin, 281). And the Russian
Formalists Boris Eikhenbaum and Jurij Tynjanov use the concept to
mediate between a linguistically based analysis and a historical interpretation
of literary texts (Eisen, 9).
One of the liveliest intellectual debates in Germany revolves around
generational conflict. It starts with an essay by Klaus Mann entitled "Die
neuen Eltern" ("The New Parents"); it continues with an interview in
which his father, Thomas Mann, defines "die neuen Kinder" ("the new
children") in response to questions from a journalist (W.E.S., 190-193);
and it ends with a furious rejoinder to both father and son by the
playwright Bertolt Brecht, a rising star among the young writers in
Germany (Brecht, 40ff.). Although the discussion inevitably focuses on
the contrast between the son's generation and the father's generation,
both Klaus Mann and Thomas Mann insist that one of the most salient
features of the Present is young people's indifference when it comes to
defining themselves in opposition to their parents. This means that even
the one, rather minimal, historico-philosophical element inherent in the
generation-concept-that is, the self-definition of each new generation
through a gesture of negation vis-a-vis the previous generation-has
been abandoned. The less the younger generations care about being
different, the more difficult it becomes to define them-and to perceive
the identity of the Present: "We consider it important not to destroy the
bridges between the generations, not to heap irony on all traditions
arrogantly and triumphantly, not to despise all forms" (W.E.S., 190).
Klaus Mann's father, of course, fully agrees: "Rather than discussing the
'new parents,' we should perhaps focus on the 'new children,' who have
become older and more understanding, and who, simply because they