Newspaper Headline

[Andrew Dinn]

Thomas N. Dennis writes:

> ...isn't one of the more chilling moments in GR the scrap of
> newspaper--(somebody correct me if I'm dilating, I digested this book long
> ago, it's deep in the fat cells now)--the piece of newspaper fluttering
> along some abandoned back street in Berlin with gaps where certain letters
> are missing in the large-point headline.  

It is indeed one of the focal points of the novel and more than
chilling. The newspaper says:

    MB DRO
    ROSHI

and in the picture a white cock hangs from a white bush. You might
also recall the pale Virgin rising in the east, face, breasts, hips
just above the horizon on a beautiful, peaceful morning. Venus and the
A-Bomb. And their orgasm is described as arriving `roaring and
sovereign' (Penguin page 680 or thereabouts).

> Perhaps the Nagasaki bombing was the worst crime, simply because of
> the magnitude of its redundancy. 
> But then again, it is remarkable just how fanatically xenophobic &
> drawn in some societies become, during wartime and other times.
> N'est-ce pas?

It's not a competition by the way [just that the tone of some of the
correspondence seemed somewhat competitive]. I'll side with Steelhead
(again). For me the most distressing thing about the war was the
gearing of a whole nation towards the systematic destruction of vast
numbers of its citizens in the most banal, passionless manner.
Bureaucrats in the German railways ensuring that they received the
correct payment for fares to Auschwitz u.s.w.

As someone so kindly pointed out, naturally, being a vegetarian, I
find it hard to condone killing of any sort. No doubt if I ate meat I
might think differently but I also have the strong conviction that
even my own personal fury and regard for my own safety ought not to
depersonalize the fact of murder. The fury of governments being as we
all know merely a paper tiger, there must therefore be some other
influence which enables people to legitimate such acts. Perhaps it is
indeed regard for their own safety (as a government). Or maybe it's
just the meat?


Andrew Dinn
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O alter Duft aus Maerchenzeit / Berauschest wieder meine Sinne
Ein naerrisch Heer aus Schelmerein / Durchschwirrt die leichte Luft