Henrik Sunde Wilberg in NYT: ‘The historian Eric Hobsbawm noted that, in the postwar era, everyone inhabited two countries: his own and the United States. This was certainly the case in my family.’

And: ‘He [Wilberg’s uncle] was a tireless accumulator of American cultural capital, typical of the generation the filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard called “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.”’

As well: ‘From the collector’s point of view, the American century expired decades ago, and it is not coming back.’

Also: ‘Can anyone halt the destruction of a lifetime of American cool? If there is hope for American style to survive the end of the American century, it will be with the help of outsiders.’ American cool, a matter of garments?

As for the children and grandchildren of Marx and Coca-Cola, are they hoping for the American century to end? Or are they betting on a sequel? I would say the latter.

(a sf 2127)