Life, 1909-07-15 · page 27 of 28
Life — July 15, 1909 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This poem satirizes early-20th-century American intellectual pretension. The speaker boasts of casually consuming high culture—breakfast on "Hegel," dinner on "Socrates," leisure reading of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche—while demonstrating they understand none of it deeply. The joke is that this person treats serious philosophy and art as fashionable status symbols to be displayed rather than genuinely studied. They rush from topic to topic ("What's the next thing on the list?") with no time for actual "rumination," dropping names of composers (Wagner, Beethoven), authors (Mrs. Wharton), and philosophers as cultural currency. The satire targets the "culture-crazed" American who equates name-dropping with genuine intellectual engagement—a timeless critique of performative intellectualism masquerading as education.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: Cocktails ABottled Delight When youmix acocktail, you take chances. When you use CLUB COCK- TAILS you don't even have to mix. Just pour over cracked ice and you'll have the most deli- cious and satisfy- ing drink youever tasted. They can’t help being better than the mixed at random kind. RERE RK Martini (gin base) hattan(whis- key base) are always popular. Man- RR G.F.HEUBLEIN & BRO. Hartford New York London The Culture-Crazed We are mad for culti And refining information, \nd we're drinking pretty deeply at Pierian str Whether eagerly or dourly, We're absorbing culture hourly, \nd we're getting quite conversant with a quan- ity of themes. ion the pure cnoKes Ob, we're breakfasting on Hegel and we dine on Socrates, Ve serve Professor James and Kant at all our formal teas, And we spend a half a Glancing over Schopenhauer, Noting Nietzsche's “ Will to Power," de his subtler theories. hour Criticising Aristotle Mrs. Wharton, Emory favorite avocation, Pottle, Is our and we're able to indite Themes on Arnold versus Pater, Demonstrating which is greater Or to write a dissertation on the fossil trilobite cHoxus Oh, it’s eulogize Beethoven, show the inward- ness of Liszt, Sterling Tires Moat Important of all that goes Into a tire Is the “Intent” of Maker, Fabric, rubber and re profit or loss ame and good will, sce What we mean, Sterling Blue Tubes re mate of two layers of rubber—cross-grained with a proter- | tive coating. Nothing else Itke them—unique in looks and serv. | foe, “dak ua why they're blue,” | Tell us what ties you use and where you buy them. and tell you how to get a Sterling Wive Tube—FREE. RUTHERFORD RUBBER CO., Rutherford, N. J. pur profit tn good three others and 1 little whack at Wagner, show where di missed. Do not ask why that sonata Sounds like Lewis Carroll's hatter, (After all, it doesn’t matter) What's the next thing on the list? When it comes 10 Botticelli We are very sure to tell “he affected profoundly hy the quite carly And we like D, G. Rosse For we never can i Has produced his soulful minute nuance. et he lings with the most enorrs Oh, it’s pass along the that Macterline n Pinero, Shaw and Wilde—don‘t try to stop and think | At the sea of cultivation And of thought- There's no time for rumination Nor for trembling at the brink Irene Louise Hunter, in Saturday Evening Post Hauptmann and it's rash Made ina minute— agrees with everyone | Best Cocoa of them All An appetizing luncheen in a teacup, |for a Summer afternoon, when a heavy HE very fact that this adv tisement appears in LIFE gives jit a higher standing with you than if you saw it in, for instance, a “ sporting sheet.” On the same principle your letters will carry more weight if written on genuine Old Hampshire Bond rather than on cheap pulpy stock or an imitation of Old Hampshire. Hampshire Paper Co. Only paper makers in the world making bond paper exclusively South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts TAIN SUPPOSED TO RISE? meal led. strengthens and is digestible. is not needed. It nourishes, Sold by All Leading Grocers Fifth Avenue at 35th Street. Chocolates, Bon-Bons, French Bonbonnicres, The Luncheon Restaurant—a cool resting place for ladies—"afternoon tea” In Manhattan Jack: Hello, Tom, old man, got your new flat fitted up yet Tom can buy a lo you know where h?—Boston T script, Berkowitz and t on the train. “T have just a tremendous How much do you think I sol jould | know re ¢ you don’t know, but v . traveling salesmen, come from St. Louis, business,” said Berk ied Sternberg at do you Oh, about half.’* “Half of vhat? “Why, half vhat you say.”” rybody’s. A Happy Marriage Depends largely on a know!- edge of the whole truth about self and sex and their tien to life and health, This knowledge does not come intelligently of itself, nor correctly from ordinary every-day sources SEXOLOGY (Utustrated) Ji, Walling, 4-M., M.D. imparts tn 9 clear, waly, a0 one Volum Knowledge a Young Man Should Have. Knowledge a Young Husband Should Have. Knowledge a F Knowledge a Father 81 to Tia Son, Medical Knowledge a by William Knowledge a Mother Should Have, Knowledge a Mother Should Impart to Her Daughter. Medical Knowledge a Wife Should Have. Rich Cloth Biadiag, Full Gold ‘Write for "* Other People’s Opiaion: Puritan Pub. Co., 711 Perry Bldg., Phila., Pa. comicbooks.com