In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

SOBRIETY VS. EXUBERANCE 333
bobbed hair (Bubikopf) contribute to the blurring of binary gender
distinctions (von Soden and Schmidt, 18ff.). [see Employees, Male =
Female (Gender Trouble)] The fear of ideas and forms that have no
reference or function becomes a veritable horror vacui. Journalistic discourses
become a model for literature, since they are supposed to resist
the transformation of primary experience into interpretation. [see Reporters]
On the other hand, the evaluation of abstract forms of reflection
depends on their interpenetration with everydayness. This at least is the
central premise of an article commemorating the eightieth birthday of
the philosopher Rudolf Eucken: "We must resist being absorbed into a
'pragmatic culture,' as well as getting stuck in a romantic 'cult of the
soul.' What is at stake is an intellectual penetration and structuring of
the pragmatic world" (Berliner Borsen-Zeitung, January 3).
But while intellectuals are fascinated with such concepts as formalism
and functionalism, the deceptive aspects of their implicit programs begin
to appear. Trying to construct a spherical theater, the Bauhaus designer
Andor Weininger learns that the most elementary forms are not necessarily
the most functional (Wechselwirkungen, 438ff.). A discussion of
the latest architectural experiments in Amsterdam, in an article published
by the Berliner Tageblatt on August 5, cites the inhabitants' desire for
nonfunctional ornamentation-a desire that can certainly not be satisfied
by a purely geometric style: "This is why the leveling straightedges of
urban developers should begin to take account of tenants' wishes. But if
it is economically necessary to squeeze people into huge housing projects,
one should at least, for god's sake, leave them their little ornaments
above doors and windows. Fortunately, the Durch architects have realized
that human dwellings cannot be built according to strict dogmas,
and that the modern culture of sobriety contradicts the playful impulses
of human nature. 'The architect as pedagogue' is a wonderful conceptbut,
like any other educator, he also needs to be a psychologist." Likewise,
despite its irrefutable environmental rationale, cremation fails to
satisfy the desire for a corpse beside which one can mourn the death of
a loved one. [see Cremation] Finally, by renouncing all visionary elements
in favor of Realpolitik, Germany's Social Democrats seem to
encourage a longing for ideologies among their opponents: "We have to
break the Social Democratic Party-so that hunger can know what it is
longing for, so that the German people can finally learn to will their own