Nordhausen, Vietnam, & Pynchon

[davemarc]

At 10:12 PM 6/13/96 -0400, George Haberberger wrote:
>
>I think Pynchon wrote GR as a metaphor for Vietnam (being concurrent with
>it) in a similar vein that Heller wrote Catch 22, 

I don't think Heller wrote Catch-22 (1962) as a metaphor for Vietnam.

>and M.A.S.H being a
>popular film.  WWII (and Korea) where distant enough to be crititcized,
>without being caught in the curent politcal discussion. The whole Herero in
>Sudwest Africa scenes, the third world colonies being the outhouse where the
>imperialist man can really enjoy a shit, etc, seems to relate as much to
>Germans in South Africa as to Americans in Vietnam.
>
>Had he directly attacked Vietnam, he probably would have never been
>published. Even 22 years later, where is the great Vietnam War novel, the
>subject has only been approached in film's, ranging from Heavy Metal concert
>(Platoon) to We Win the Rematch (Rambo)?
>
As Steelhead (I believe) has pointed out, that's just not so.  Like him, I
non-threateningly recommend reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried
and Going After Cacciato.

davemarc