From Roth's "What I Saw"

From the end of "Affirmation of the Triangular Railway Junction" (Frankfurter Zeitung, July 16, 1924):

So vast are the dimensions of the new life. That the new art which is to shape it cannot find a form for it is perfectly understandable. The reality is too overwhelming to be adequately represented. A faithful "depiction" is not enough. One would have to feel the heightened and ideal reality of this world, the Platonic ideal of the triangular railroad junction. One would have to affirm its harshness with enthusiasm, see the operation of "Ananke"* in its deadly effects, and prefer destruction by its laws to happiness by the "humane" laws of the sentimental world.
     The world to come will be like this triangular railroad junction, raised to some unknown power. The earth has lived through several evolutionary stages--but following always natural laws. It is presently experiencing a new one, which follows contructive, conscious, and no less elemental laws. Regret for the passing of the old forms is like the grief of some antediluvian creature for the disappearance of a prehistoric habitat.
     Gray, dusty grasses will sprout shyly between the metal tracks. The "landscape" will acquire a mask of iron.
 

From "Skyscrapers" (Berliner Borsen-Courier, March 12, 1922):

     A skyscraper is the incarnate rebellion against the supposedly unattainable; against the mystery of altitude, against the otherworldliness of the cerulean.

     I can see the skyscraper: a slender, floating construction on its broad pediment, noble and delicate in its lines, whose white and gray sets itself apart from the blue sky. Strong and safe in its assembly, it matches a natural mountain for strength.

     An if it were possible for us to build a "planet scraper" and to construct settlements of Mars, the expeditions of scientists and engineers would be accompanied by a delegation of bartenders.
     I have a shining vision of a bar in the clouds. It's raining champagne cocktails.