That Alluring Land (Ta zem vabna)

15 Pages·2016·1.46 MB·English

That Alluring Land (Ta zem vabna) Which They Both
Have Never Seen: Imaging and Imagining America
in the Words of Timrava and Virginia Woolf
Verita Sriratana
Verita Sriratana is a recipient of the Anandamahidol Foundation Scholarship under
the Royal Patronage of HM the King of Thailand. She is also currently a recipient
of the National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic for the Support
of Mobility of Lecturers and Researchers at the Department of English Language
and Literature, Faculty of Education, Comenius University in Bratislava. Verita has
published articles on Virginia Woolf and the weather, on Woolfs spatial metaphors
and concept of "atmosphere", and on Woolf and the Theravada Buddhist concept
of "the middle path". She has recently been interested in Slovak feminist and
postcolonial modernism, particularly in the works of Boiena SlanEikovd "Timrava".
Abstract:
Boiena SlanEikovci "Timrava" (18 67-19 51) and her British contemporary Virginia
Woo!f(l882-1941) wrote scathingly about America without having visited the place.
Timrava's 1907short story "ThatA lluring Land" ("Tci zem vcibna17a nd Woo!f's 1938
essay 'Xmerica, which I have never seen " expose the workings of the "technology of
place:' The term "technology': which means ''coming to presence" and "concealing"
in Martin Heidegger's sense, is appropriated as part of this paper's proposition that
the America imaged and imagined by both writers is a result of negotiations between
the ''concrete place" of the senses, both writers' socio-cultural constructs, and the
"abstract place" of the imagination.
The myth of America as the promised World Symphony", ushered in a sense
land of freedom and opportunity, a of optimism and utopian exaltation in
melting pot of gold, has been prevalent America's industrial and technological
in the collective consciousness since progress. Unlike the case of DvoFdk
the Age of Discovery, or around the who composed his masterpiece in
fifteenth to seventeenth century, 1893 during his actual visit to his
until the present day. The Turn of "new world'', America is featured in
the Century (1890-1914), which the works of those who have not even
culminated in Antonin Dvoi6k's "New touched its soil. The Slovak writer
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Boiena SlanEikovi (1867-1951), as well as the effects of remigration on
known by her nom de plume "Timrava", the lives of the people living in small
and her British contemporary Virginia villages in Slovakia. In the case of
Woolf (1882-1941) wrote scathingly Virginia Woolf, as I shall illustrate, her
about America without having visited textual representation of America, as
the place. I propose in this paper that well as the accompanying illustration
Timrava's short story That Alluring by the American artist C. Peter Helck
Land (Ta' zem vcibna), which appeared (1893-1988) of Woolf's article in
in 1907, and Woolf's short essay Hearst's International Combined with
America, which I have never seen, Cosmopolitan (1938) which is based on
published in 1938, expose the workings her words and which is also transgressed
of what I term "technology of place''. by her words, can be said to be shaped
The word "technology", which means and stimulated by the alternative reality
both a finished product and an ongoing Woolf had wished upon her world. For
production process, a mode of both Woolf, America stands as a symbol of
"coming to presence" and "concealing" an alternative space where women
in Martin Heidegger's sense, is used as writers come to forge an alternative
part of this paper's proposition that voice or even a new language which
America in the works of Timrava and can liberate them from the confines
Woolf is a result ofconstant negotiations of dominant male writers' vocabulary
between the "concrete place" of the and patriarchal mindset. America, for
senses-both writers' socio-cultural Woolf, is also an alternative place for
constructs; and the "abstract place" of a new world order, where Britain's
the imagination-both writers' dreams socio-cultural, economic and political
and visions of the "alluring" unknown. supremacy as well as hegemonic claims
I wish to demonstrate in my paper how after the First World War are put into
words shape and complement images question.
and how images shape and complement Before analysing the chosen literary
words. I argue that the intertwined texts, I shall begin by briefly explaining
connection and rich interaction between Heidegger's concept of "technology" in
"words" and "images", or between my "technology of place" theoretical
textual and visual culture, can be seen framework. Often read and regarded as
reflected in my analysis of "technology an anti-technology and anti-modernism
of place" in Woolf and Timrava's (re-) statement, Heidegger's essay entitled
creation of words on and images of the The Question Concerning Technology
America they have not seen or visited. In (Die Frage nach der Technik), first
the case of Timrava, as I shall illustrate, published in 1954, nevertheless can
her textual representation of America be said to suggest that technology's
can be said to be shaped and stimulated deconstructive tendency can lead to the
by the reality of her time, namely, that questioning of preconceived notions
of the early twentieth-century Slovak and values. According to Heidegger,
emigration to and migration in America, much as the use of modern technology
can dangerously reduce humans to Boiena SlanEikovA "Timrava" was
"Bremer und Freiburger Vortrage", or born in 1867 to a family of a Lutheran
"functionaries of enframing" driven pastor in a small village called Polichno,
only by the desire to get the most out BanskA Bystrica Region, Slovakia. She
of their resources without thinking, was the author of many works which
technology can also manifest itself as a depict village life, notably exploring
"saving grace" in that, particularly when the relationships between landowners
certain technological devices break and peasants, between the burgeoning
down, humans can be moved to question middle class and the working class, and
their "illusions of power" over natural between men and women in the advent
resources, or "standing-reserve", and of modernization. The most famous
also contemplate upon what it means to among her short stories is The Tapdk
"be" in the world as Daseins. Quoting the Clan (?apa'kovci), published in 1914. The
lines of the German lyric poet Friedrich ?apdk Clan is a story of a family trapped
Holderlin: "But where danger is, grows/ within a traditional and conservative
The saving power also" (1977, p. 28)) way of life, stubbornly refusing to adapt
Heidegger asserts: to new changing conditions of society.
If the essence of technology, Enfra- The large GpAk family lives together in
ming, is the extreme danger, and if there one house:
is truth in Holderlin's words, then the Four brothers with their wives and
rule of Enframing cannot exhaust itself children-the fifth brother, MiSo, the
solely in blocking all lighting-up of every youngest, was still a bachelor. There
revealing, all appearing of truth. Rather was one daughter, AnEa, thirty years
precisely the essence of technology old and an old maid because she was
must harbor in itself the growth of the crippled ... The whole bpAk family lived
saving power (1977, p. 28). together in one house. When they all
"Technology of place" is therefore got together, there was scarcely room
a mode of constructing a myth or an on the benches (Timrava, 1992, p. 171).
understanding of place, "enframing" or The family's cramped and suffocating
"setting" the mind in ways that lead it to house serves as a metaphor of the
subscribe to or propagate the "imaged", family's narrow-mindedness which
or represented, as well as "imagined", or resists any form of change. Only Il'a,
(re)invented, place. At the same time, the wife of the eldest brother in the
however, "technology of place" can also family, ventures to go against the
be a mode of questioning and reading patriarchal regime and the family
below that spatial construction. custom of complacency by imagining
In light of my concept of "technology an "abstract place" of healthier living
of place" as a mode of constructing and and by suggesting that they expand the
deconstructing one's understanding of "concrete place" of their family house.
oneself and one's place, I shall begin Only Il'a dares to speak up and urge
this paper's textual analysis by offering the family to embrace a more informed
an overview of Timrava and her works. and "modernized" outlook and lifestyle.
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Her "modern" opinion, of course, comes the people living in small villages in
with a price. The family bestows upon Slovakia is revolutionary. The tragic
her an insulting nickname "Queenie" and, at the same time, satirical ending
and mocks her for her different views: of The Tapcik Clan demonstrates her
[Nlone of them [the other members of modernist transgressive tendency to
the Taphk family] liked Il'a; she felt she put into question and revise the "old"
was too good for anyone else because traditional ways of thinking and writing
she was in the community service. She whilst remaining within and utilizing
was the village midwife! Since taking the discursive tools of the very social
a course in Rimavskh Sobota for two system she criticizes in her works.
months, she had put on airs as if she no Therefore, it can be said that her oeuvre
longer belonged to a peasant's family, goes beyond folk narratives, bordering
but to a gentleman's. Now nothing and between the trope of realism and the
no one in the Taphk house pleased her. trope of modernism.
She lectured them, bossed them, and America, for Timrava, is an imagined
tried to destroy all the old customs land. However, it is nevertheless
rooted for ages in their household. constructed upon the "concrete place"
(ibid., p. 172) ofthe grim reality of political oppression
Though a , not without pain, of her time: the Magyarization Policy
successfully persuades her husband and the formation of an independent
Palb to physically remove themselves Czechoslovakia. Poverty, forced
from the overcrowded "concrete place" denationalization and socio-economic
of the Taphk family house as well as inequality prompted a vast amount of
mentally relocate themselves to a new labour migration. Signs of social unrest
"abstract place" of a more promising can still be seen in post-indepedence
future, Timrava depicts how the rest of Czechoslovakia from the year 1918
the obstinate Taphk clan returns to their onwards:
sense of complacency by making fun of The country itself was threatened
the changes which Il'a and her husband by an invasion of Slovakia by Hungary
have embraced at the end of the story: and by the short-lived proclamation of
The third brother made a small joke, an independent Slovak Soviet Republic.
leaning against the corner of the old The Sudeten German minority refused
house: "Well, well, what a yellow castle allegiance to the new Republic and
our Queenie's built-I'd be embarrassed sought a solution of its grievances in
to live in it." an alignment with Austria. Finances
"Oh, we can build one like that too," were in chaos, due to the enormously
said the mistress Zuza disparagingly, inflated old Austrian crown. The war
"when MiSo comes home from the army." had all but derailed the economy; coal
Everyone felt pleased with himself. production had dropped drastically, and
(ibid., p. 212) transportation was in disarray. Lack
Timrava's endeavour to capture of food aggravated social unrest, and
and portray the reality of the lives of the working class, suffering most, was
radicalized by Communist agitation. pay for his newly acquired land: "So that
Peasants were hungry for land. Strikes alluring land crept into Jano's thoughts
spread like wildfire, and attempts to again, the New World across the ocean,
seize land erupted around the country. which gave a man everything good, and
(Korbel, 1997, p. 43) which could ease from his shoulders the
ThatAlluring Land (Tci zem vhbna) was pressing debt" (Timrava, 1992, p. 109).
published in 1907, the year when the He also wishes to go to America in order
Hungarian Apponyi Laws were drafted to escape from his domineering mother
and passed, granting the government as well as his "mundane" and frustrated
official rights to turn all Slovak life in his small village:
elementary schools into Hungarian and The closer he got to the house, the
decree that the Slovak language was more despairing he felt and the more
only to be taught one hour per week as he yearned to go to that land for which
a foreign language. The impact of the Privoda [Jano's friend] had again fanned
Hungarian aggressive acculturation his love. The golden threads stretching
regime on Slovak education, for from America and pulling him to herself
example, was tremendous: grew stouter. That land over there could
[A111 teachers, whether in state or not only ease the debt off his shoulders,
church schools, were to educate their but also take away this burden he was
pupils to love the Magyar Nation and always carrying in his heart. He didn't
the Hungarian State. The state was know if otherwise he could ever throw
authorized to change even Slovak it off. (Timrava, 1992, p. 122)
church schools to Magyar schools if they Upon hearing about his son's fervent
included a minority of Magyar pupils. desire to leave home, Jano's mother
Teachers who neglected to teach the complains:
Magyar language could be summarily "How could you go off to America?
dismissed, and for the same cause the How could I let you? Your father's ill-
state had the right to close down a school he won't last till spring, so what will
entirely. The school became the most become of us, and of the farm? Why did
potent weapons of denationalization. we buy the new field if you're going to
(Lettrich, 1955, pp. 36-37) leave? America is across the ocean, you
Timrava's story is about a 26-year- can get sick there, you can die there, my
old young man named Jano Fazul'a who son! Two years! By that time I'll lay my
belongs to a peasant family. Jano is old bones down, too, ifyou leave!" (ibid.,
worried about his father, who is dying. p. 106)
He has also been feeling frustrated about While Jano is still deciding whether
his wife, whom he does not love but was to leave or not to leave his home, he is
arranged by his mother to marry. The persuaded by his friends who are also
family has just bought new land next to planning to go and work in America to
the family's farm, for which Jano needs pay off their debts. He and his friends,
to pay and clear his debt. Janow ishes to who usually drink at the local pub
go to America to earn enough money to and talk about "that alluring land"
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called America, are ironically and you catch him, like I caught VySovan
scathingly referred to by the locals as when he stole my sausages, and nothing
"the Americans". The village's other happened to him because 1 didn't have
young men, who do not have the means a witness. In America, brother, if you
or luxury to leave their homes, also take even one broken needle, you'll be
join "the Americans" in the collective hanged at once!" Here he looked at Palb
dreaming and imagining of the land Privoda. "That's what I heard." (ibid., pp.
they have never seen: 118-19)
Then, while they drank, they talked It is interesting to note how the word
about that wondrous land across the "here" is starkly contrasted with "there".
ocean which provided mankind with Compared with the laws in Jano's
such blessings. It had four harvests village, where people can get away with
a year with no taxes, and money petty theft, the laws in America are
fell everywhere like dust. That land thought or imagined to be stricter-a
glittered magically before their eyes. It guarantee of a better life. However, the
was covered by luxuriant ears of grain hopeful voices of aspiring young men
strewn with the dollars that rained who dream their collective dreams of
down abundantly upon the working America are nevertheless cracked and
man and jingled together like music. broken by some comments which have
(ibid., p. 117) the potential to expose and challenge
This collective image of America the fabricated myth of America in these
as a land of milk and honey, a land of villagers' minds:
abundance, is described through the "But really, men, the laws about
words they know, through farming women are strict there." Jano Krajec was
imagery of crops and harvests. This a young man whose appearance and
extract therefore demonstrates how speech were so proper that he had just
the "technology" of place-making is been elected as sacristan for the new
based on or "enframed", to appropriate year. "Men can't even stand and joke
Heidegger's term, within the context of with a woman, or play a little, or even
the dreamer or the imaginer in the same wink at her-to jail at once! He looked
way that it "enframes" or propels the toward the smiling, handsome face of
dreamer or the imaginer to propagate Privoda, observing it sadly, since people
the myth of place in his/her mindset. said Privoda was a passionate admirer
Here, Jano and his friends are all of women.
peasants trying to conjure up the image "Oh, no!" The young men groaned at
of America as utopia and cornucopia. the speech of Jano Krajec.
This image of America as a Slovak "Excuse me, but none of this is true."
farmer's El Dorado is also reinforced by Privoda still spoke coolly.
the image of America as a land of justice "Just nonsense! Don't worry, Janko
and freedom: Fazul'a."
"Over there it's not like it is here, "No getting drunk there, either.
where nothing happens to a thief. Here Imagine! My father-in-law said they
take drunks to jail at once," said Palb and jingled together like music" (1992,
AmbriS from the upper village. p. 117) is shattered by the "concrete"
"Now what kind of freedom is that?" reality of industrial America, or the
Jano GuSka, despite his abruptness and reality of coals, hot furnaces and hard
contrariness, always wanted another labour. The ending of the short story
glass (ibid., p. 119). is tragic in that Timrava demonstrates,
As Jano GuSka has questioned, "what with wry humour, how people tend to
kind of freedom is that?" (ibid., p. 119) hold on to the myths and images they
when there are so many restrictions. only want to see and believe in. The
Freedom, of course, comes with a price. myth of America as "that" alluring land
Timrava plants such witty dissonance superior in every way to "this" alluring
in her text so as to induce her readers land of one's own "concrete place" of
to be sceptical of her characters' myth home or homeland, of one's reality ofthe
of America. here and now, will still be propagated as
To Jano Fazul'a's delight, his mother truth when people believe in it without
comes to believe all the rumours about questioning:
"that alluring" land which she has never When this information [in Jano's
seen and finally agrees to let him go letter] reached Jano Hlbzo, he went to
and work in America. After Jano and his visit the BubuEka family next door to
friends leave their hometown, a letter the Fazul'a house. He enjoyed making up
from Jano reaches Slovakia. It reads: stories and upsetting people with them
"Here it's not like people at home whenever he could.
said it would be. Just don't believe it's There he said, "Did you hear the latest?
so good. It's very difficult here, very In Libov5 someone just came back from
hard. True, we get three dollars a day, America. He said Jano Fazul'a fell into
but we work by the open furnace where the boiler where they melt the asphalt.
the iron ore is melted. Just the two of Ah, that's the truth! Old Ondro Mihal'ko
us-old our0 Tankel' didn't last there was in the city yesterday, and he heard
even two days and had to quit. Now about it from the Libov5 men who were
he's working by the train hauling coal sawing wood at KoH's place."
in a wheelbarrow for the engine. He "Oh-h-h!" BubuEka was so shocked
said he's going home as soon as he gets she almost fainted.
enough money for the ticket. Srnec went In an hour, the story had spread
down into the mine because he didn't around the whole village that Jano
last by the furnace either. We work in Fazul'a had fallen into the boiler and
leather gloves so the flames won't burn was cooked to pieces. Only a few bones
our hands, and we have glasses over our remained of him. Vr5beEiEka [Jano's
eyes." (ibid., p.129) mother], when they had revived her
The image of America as a land from her faint, grabbed a scarf for her
"covered by luxuriant ears of grain head. She ran out just the way she was,
strewn with the dollars that rained greasy from cooking. Weeping aloud,
down abundantlyupon the workingman she ran all the way to Libov5 to ask that
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American if it was really true about hometown, he [Pavel SlanEik] studied
Janko. (ibid., p. 129) in Oid'any, Keimarok and Banska
The haunting, vivid image of Jano's Stiavnica, from where he graduated. He
mother weeping and rushing out of her went on to study theology in Bratislava.
house in panic serves as a reminder Then, in 1857, he went to Halle. He
of the destructive outcome of one's married, at the age of 28, 16-year-old
unscrupulous subscription to the myth Eva Miria Honktzy (1847-1923), who
of an imagined place. was daughter of the pastor of Kyjatice
Timrava, who grew up and lived in an in Gemer. The marriage produced 11
isolated village, has long been regarded children. Among whom that survived
as a folk writer whose genius and to adulthood were Pavel, Irena, Boiena
theme of writing transcend her village and Bohuslav (who were identical
ways of life, resisting the patriotic twins), Izabela and Maria ... In 1863,
trend of writing prevalent in her time. Pavel SlanEik co-founded the Matica
Four years before Timrava's birth, the Slovenski in Martin. (Obecnf urad
Matica Slovenski, Slovakia's prominent Polichno, 2011)2
cultural and scientific institution However, unlike the works of Slovak
whose objectives were "to foster Slovak nationalist writers, most notably the
education, to encourage literature and poet laureate Pavol Hviezdoslav (1849-
the arts, and to improve the material 1921) and Martin KukuEin (1860-1928),
welfare of the nation" (Lettrich, 1955, Timrava's works deal with simple plots.
p. 34)) was established in the city of Her emphasis is on the character's
Martin on 4 August 1863: interior conflict, or "landscape of the
And when the Matica Slovenski mind", rather than on a didactic and
constitution of 21 August 1862 had propagandist agenda, which was the
been approved, the first general trend of her time. In 1907, in the same
assembly took place almost a year year that ThatAlIuring Land appeared in
later, on 4 August, in Martin. The print, KukuEin published a play entitled
assembly, attended by around 5,000 Komasdcia: Obraz zo slovenskej dediny v
people, was the largest in the history Styroch dejstvdch (Land Consolidation:
of events in Slovakia in that time. It Imagef rom a Slovak Village in FourActs),
was an exceedingly solemn incident which was Slovakia's earliest realist play.
that might have impressed even the KukuEin's prioritization and promotion
biggest sceptics. On this occasion, there of the political message of land
was no shortage of false expression of protection and consolidation through
sympathy towards the Slovaks artfully flat and almost "lifeless" characters
and calculatingly dispatched from the serves as a stark contrast to Timrava's
Emperor. (Mriz, 1963, p. 39)' prioritization of in-depth exploration
Timrava's father, Lutheran priest of her fictional characters. The issues of
Pavel SlanEik (1833-1906)) was one of labour migration and of land acquisition
the institution's co-founders: in Timrava's short story are explored on
In addition to the primary school in his a more personal level and through the
point of views of the neglected "other", Also, it is the changes which these
or the men and women who are left by returned "Americans" made to the
the exodus heroes to carry on with their community that persuade Jano's mother
lives and who are also the culprits in to agree to let him go: "VrAbel'tiEka
propagating the myth of imagined place, [Jano's mother] sat down beside him
unconsciously sustaining the inequality at the table and began to speak. 'Well,
embedded within the social class and Janko, it's true-people really do have
economic system: "When even the rich it good who have been in America.
are going off to America, what can poor Even Mi50 Kruphr in Libovri brought
people like us expect?" (Timrava, 1992, back a lot of money, and he was there
p. 123). only a year and a half."' (ibid., p. 123).
I thus agree with Norma Rudinsky, Timrava, living in her microcosmic
who aptly points out that Timrava's "concrete place" of Polichno, must have
short story "presents immigration as witnessed the phenomenon of massive
emigration" (1992, p. xiii). I also wish to labour migration and remigration.
propose that Timrava not only portrays According to the statistics of migration
the conditions of early twentieth- between the United States and Europe
century Slovak emigration to and in the years 1908 to 1923 in Wyman's
migration in America, but also offers Round-trip to America: The Immigrants
insights into the effects of remigration. Return to Europe, a staggering number
The men from Jano's neighbouring of 225,033 Slovaks migrated to the
town of Libova who had gone to work in United States. 127,593 Slovaks (a total
America and returned to Slovakia with of 57% of all migrants) remigrated from
their earnings not only transform the the United States, returning to their
physical landscape of the town but also home country or moving to other places
contribute to the shaping of the myth of in Europe (1993, p. 11).
America in the minds of the people they As outlined at the beginning of this
have left behind: "'Well, it's America paper, Timrava was not the only writer
that made Libovh rich!' Exclaimed who wrote about the "allure" ofAmerica
Srnec. 'Without her they couldn't have without having actually visited the
built those palaces"' (Timrava, 1992, place. Timrava's junior contemporary
p. 113). It is their "remigrated" stories from England, Virginia Woolf, also
of America that propel the aspiring engaged in a mental journey to America
'Rmericans" in Jano's town to pursue without physically leaving the British
their dreams: "'Listen, brother,' Srnec Isles. To point out the similarities and
spoke up proudly, then puffed on both differences between the two writers, I
cigars at once. 'bur0 Hrib from Libovi shall offer an overview of Woolf's life
told me that even men who just sweep and works in connection with Timrava's
streets in America get four dollars a day. life and works.
You know what one dollar will pay for! Woolf was born to a literary family
Oh, what we're going to get!' (ibid., p. in the year 1882, in London, England.
116). Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-
ARS AETERNA
1904), was the first editor of the records and syllabi at King's College
Dictionary of National Biography and Ladies' Department between the years
one of the eminent Victorian men of 1897-1901, when she was between
letters. Around the time when Timrava the ages of 15 and 19, Virginia Stephen
was writing The Tapcik Clan, Woolf was was officially registered for courses in
writing Melymbrosia, a story about English and Continental History, Greek,
a young English woman travelling Latin and German. Unlike Timrava who
abroad and undergoing an emotional died at the ripe old age of 84, having
and sexual awakening. Melymbrosia is lived until the year 1951a nd witnessed
dense with blatant social commentaries the atrocities of both World Wars, Woolf
on colonialism, the suffrage movement committed suicide in 1941. She died at
and homosexuality. Though modified the age of 59, right before the outbreak
and toned down by self-censorship, the of the Second World War.
Melymbrosia unpublished drafts would To complete this comparative study,
later form her first published novel The we now turn to Woolf's essay which,
Voyage Out (1915). With the exception like Timrava's That Alluring Land, is a
of her last unfinished novel Between the product of a writer's attempt to "image"
Acts, which centres on a village pageant, and "imagine" America. "America,
Woolf, unlike Timrava, did not produce which I have never seen, interests me
folk stories or write extensively about most in this cosmopolitan world of
village life. However, Woolf shares today" was first published in April 1938
Timrava's keen interest in charting out in Hearst's International Combined with
the characters' interior landscapes. Cosmopolitan Magazine. It was written
Both of their works deal with interior in response to a question put to a
monologues and negotiations between succession of writers, with J.B. Priestley
the "concrete place" of reality and (1894-19841, for example, billed as next
the "abstract place" of dreams and in line: "What interests you most in this
imagination. Another striking similarity cosmopolitan world of today?" (2002, p.
between the two writers lies in the 56). Woolf is described in the headline
fact that both were contented to be across the article page in Hearst's as
referred to and regarded by the public 'Ruthor of 'The Years"', which was her
as "autodidacts" who did not receive best-selling novel in America. Her reply,
formal education. However, their claims 'Rmerica, which I have never seen,
are not entirely true. While Timrava was interests me most", is accompanied by
"[s]chooled mainly at home" and "read C. Peter Helck's montage illustration,
sporadically in European literature which is composed of a bird's-eye view
(Czech, German, Magyar, Russian)" of Manhattan and its skyscrapers, of the
(Rudinsky, 1992, p. x), she nevertheless Statue of Liberty and a gigantic native
attended a boarding school for young American, of cars and traffic, and of
ladies at the age of fifteen "to improve cocktail bars and factories (1938, p. 21).
her German and Magyar" (ibid.). The article begins thus:
Likewise, according to her enrolment