In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

AUTHENTICITY = ARTIFICIALITY (LIFE) 359
Against the background of its tropical exuberance, it shows all the
magnificent dynamism of contemporary life. For someone who adores
movement and speed as much as I do, the loud and intense bustle of the
traffic and of the teeming, restless masses is an incomparable joy. Especially
so when I can appreciate this spectacle in a city like Rio, which
consists of a multitude of small neighborhoods, separated by delightful
gardens-in brief, a world that seems to suggest calm philosophical
meditation rather than the suffocating labor of modern life" (Buarque
de Holanda, 80-81). Analogous, in this respect, to a city like Rio de
Janeiro, the architectural fashion for roof gardens satisfies the desire for
a blend of Authenticity and Artificiality. Roof gardens are, so to speak,
the place where skyscrapers-the most ambitious constructions of the
human mind-come together with the nature that surrounds them. And
within their precincts, plants flourish on artificial ground.
The same ambivalence is often seen by whites as passion when it is
incarnated by African-American culture. Coming from the United States,
black music and dance are generally perceived as Artificiality. But their
African roots give them an equally strong connotation of Authenticity.
[see Authenticity vs. Artificiality] For many of their white admirers,
black dancers and musicians are representatives of prehistory: "Comes
from [the] blood, from the jungle. [It] takes us back to our childhood"
(Berliner Borsen-Zeitung, January 3). For others, however, they are
America's present and Europe's future, sometimes even a future with the
promise of a redemption from decadence: "They're definitely not from
the jungle-let's not kid ourselves. Nevertheless, they are a new, untouched
race. Their dancing comes out of their blood, their life ... The
main thing is the negro blood. Drops of it are falling on Europe-a land,
long dry, which has almost ceased to breathe. Is this the cloud that looks
so black on the horizon? A shimmering stream of fertility?" (Goll, 257-
258). Ultimately, black music and dance become emblems of a simultaneity
between an uncanny but appealing future and an archaic past:
"Here origin and decline are conjoined ... Here we see the amalgamation
of 'the latest' and 'the earliest' art" (Goll, 257-258). But if African­
American culture's ambiguous status between Authenticity and Artificiality
explains why it is so fascinating to the European public, the
same ambiguity makes this culture particularly difficult to describe. In
their analysis of contemporary jazz, the French musicologists Andre
Coeuroy and Andre Schaffner start out by taking issue with the idea of