Costi wrote:couch wrote:if the other fellow was aware of the "uncovered hand" convention, he would not have minded the pause while Mann ungloved.
If so, then he must also have been aware that he was not supposed to extend his hand to Mann unless the latter had innitiated the handshake.
At first I didn't follow you here, as I did not assume from the photo that Mann was significantly older than Márai, or that the latter was otherwise inferior in precedence (although no doubt the Nobel would enhance Mann's dignity) and so inhibit him from initiating the action--especially if the two writers were friendly, as they appear to be. When equals meet and both are wearing gloves (as these two are), presumably it's not incorrect for either to remove his glove first and extend his hand to initiate a handshake? Someone has to start!
If, as you suggest, Mann was the elder, then indeed it was his prerogative to make the first move, in which case your 'burned hand' hypothesis diplomatically excuses him for the glove.
In my experience, admittedly more often North American than European, the age differential is usually discounted today in such exchanges between men unless one party is either quite young or quite senior. In business settings, if there is a significant disparity in position, the more powerful man retains the right to initiate, but is often happy to accept a forthright approach rather than a respectful diffidence, and things may be complicated when he is the younger of the two. But then our customs do tend to the pragmatic, and perhaps Mann and Márai would have felt their social differences more acutely.
Etiquette in some services of the U.S. military permits one glove to be removed for introductory handshakes, if it does not create an awkward delay, but it is not required except when shaking hands with a head of state or church dignitary, and I'd never
assume ungloved hands from uniformed military men, as castiglone recalls, since symbolically they are never unarmed.
In any case, quite a moment, prompting a pleasantly arcane conversational diversion . . . .
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