Tesla by Vladimir Pistalo

Author:Vladimir Pistalo
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55597-332-2
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2014-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 62

On Top of the World

Tesla’s European tour and the World Expo made him famous.

In Electrical Review, the warm-eyed Martin was the first to ever use the magic word: “Prometheus!”

At Delmonico’s, they served him flaming dishes and desserts with sparklers.

Suddenly, everyone remembered him. His old friends started to write to him—the widow Bauzain from Strasbourg, his ailing uncle Branković, and even Tannhäuser, who invited him to his wedding in Vienna.

From a starving lad with bangs—in the picture from his Varaždin days—Nikola turned into a man on top of the world. His autograph became ornate. The motion of his hand became nervous and commanding. If a fly landed on his tablecloth, he demanded that the table be set again.

Lady Astor’s salon could accommodate only the Four Hundred. Tesla was one of them. In that limited space, the musicians played a sequence of numbers: a march, a quadrille, a waltz, a polka, a galop, and a couple of circular dances for each quadrille. The march was usually played before dinner. Tesla had two pairs of gloves—he wore one before dinner and the other after dinner. He attended these events but did not dance. “I waltz with my head, not with my legs,” he explained.

He also said this: “Rather than waiting for some king to knight you, who may be a fool or a villain, you should knight yourself.”

Tesla bragged about being the best-dressed man on Fifth Avenue. He tapped his cane against the top of his shoe and declared, “When it comes to clothes, people judge a man according to his own judgment, which is revealed through his appearance.”

The dandy did not wash his gloves and starched collars—he threw them away. A master shoemaker provided an endless supply of high-laced shoes. Monograms embellished each item in his wardrobe. Jackets flattered his greyhound-like figure. Each Monday, he bought a new tie in a Stendhalian combination of red and black.

Of late, he had been living on top of the world. In fact, he lived above the top—in the joy of discovery. He walked on water and danced his mental waltz. His elfish ears touched heaven. Stars revolved in his hair. The walls and frames that provided worldly limitations disappeared in moments of creation. He was an ancient Roman in triumph. Dane’s ghost stood behind his back and whispered, “Remember that you are human.”

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