GRGR(5) Katje and the Nazis

[Michael Perez]

Doug wrote:
"I continue to marvel at the resistance that comes up each time I make
the case that one of the things TRP writes about in GR is the
Holocaust.  What is it about this subject that is so difficult to admit
in the reading of this novel?  It's not as if I've said this is the
only thing TRP is doing in the book. Such denial (of the Holocaust
holding an important, even central position in GR) also requires that
one turn aside from many (yes, many) references and allusions in GR --
in earlier posts I detailed quite a series of such in the opening
sequence of the novel (a location many novelists use for material they
consider particularly important), and the undeniable direct references
that tie the Holocaust directly and unmistakably to the technology that
serves as a central organizing structure for the novel, the A4 rocket."

The only resistance in this case is to your contention of the
centrality of the Holocaust to _GR_.  True, you have mentioned other
things happening in the book, but you continue to overemphasize, IMHO,
the Holocaust references.  For example, the consideration of the
opening sequence as a reference to the Holocaust comes chiefly from the
fact that trains are mentioned.  As Kai points out in his post, the
ovens in Episode 14 are more references to Hansel and Gretel, but I
grant you that the Holocaust may be a less overt, but not necessarily
absent reference.  The events and related thoughts in the dodo story is
a reference to the Holocaust, but also relates to other exterminations
and the Elect vs. Preterite issue.  The fact that your friend who is
studying the occultism of the Nazis (btw, there was just a documentary
on the History channel this week on this very subject) when read the
Mauritius section cold and out of context immediately thought of the
treatment of the Jews is not a surprise, another person currently
steeped in the plights of Native Americans or African-Americans may
have given you a different appraisal.  I am not resisting the
references
to the Holocaust, but this is not a "Holocaust Book," (and I know you
have never implied that it is) in the same way it is not a "V-2 Book"
or a "WW II Book" or even a "War Book."  To see references to the
Holocaust on "every page," as I believe you said in one of the earlier
posts in GRGR (1), is a stretch, as you admitted was your mention of
Anne Frank in a recent post.  This sort of thing will indeed be
respectfully challenged.


Michael



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