The Pine Marten thinks we’re still living in the 20th century. The defining event that ties up the loose ends from the previous century (with WWI being the C19-C20 example) hasn’t yet happened.
This would also explain why all the hottest bands of the moment sound like either cut-price Simple Minds impersonators or cut-price Killing Joke impersonators.
I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that the C20 was the "short century" since it lasted from the start of WW1 in 1914 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Perhaps the Pine Marten doesn’t realise that if centuries can start late, so they can start early?
It has entertained the idea but reckons that, on balance, it’s a less likely theory than its’ own. Pine martens are like that I’m afraid.
Hobsbawm. Subtitle to The Age of Extremes. Bigger beast than a pine marten, I fear.