GRGR(5) Katje and the Nazis

[Doug Millison]

At 4:02 PM -0700 7/8/99, Michael Perez wrote:
>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.

Actually, there has been real resistance to the notion that TRP is writing
about the Holocaust in GR -- check the P-list archives for early last fall
and you'll see. rj took me to task rather severely for suggesting such at
that time, hence my surprise earlier in GRGR when rj reconsidered and
seemed to be saying that my contention, about the novel's opening sequences
at least, might be acceptable.

How pointing out the references that are there on the page amounts to
"overemphasizing" is beyond me -- no more than going through GR and
gathering references to pigs or any other specific thing. I do continue to
maintain that the Holocaust is central to GR, given the Holocaust link to
the A4 rocket which is central to the novel. I understand that you don't
agree with this, and that's fine. I would like to better understand your
definition of "central" or "centrality".

> For example, the consideration of the
>opening sequence as a reference to the Holocaust comes chiefly from the
>fact that trains are mentioned.

Oversimplification. My Holocaust reading of the opening sequence relies on
a series of references:  Kristallnacht ("fall of a crystal palace");
"judgment from which there is no appeal" at the end of the train line, the
concentration camp-like "dark hotel"; "cast iron pulleys whos spokes are
shaped like Ss"; plus the later references in GR that point back to the
beginning.

> 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.

I don't disagree with your both/and interpretation here. TRP refers to
Hansel and Gretel more or less directly, it's the Holocaust reference
that's indirect. The political impact of GR's naming names -- pointing to
specific companies who supplied both sides in WWII and thus profited from
the Nazi Holocaust and specific individuals in the U.S. and other
governments who helped to make this possible -- may be a reason why TRP
chooses to downplay his Holocaust references, given the paranoia that
existed in the 60s and the fact that so many people in the U.S. (people
like TRP's friend Richard Farina, for example) feared the U.S. government,
CIA, and other organs of control.  Look at the way General Motors recently
reacted to news that is only now surfacing in the U.S. mass media, about
the way its German subsidiary collaborated with the Nazis, for example --
this issue has virtually disappeared from the mass media since it surfaced
some months ago, doubtless the fruit of a powerful PR campaign to suppress
it. These are powerful companies and individuals who still have the ability
to make things happen.  Max had a lot to say on this score, it's
unfortunate that the rude P-list manners have convinced him to take his
insights elsewhere.

>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.

Actually my friend noticed the similarity between the Mauritius quote I
referenced and specific anti-Semitic propaganda that influenced Hitler and
the Nazis -- the point I'm making, perhaps too obliquely, is that TRP seems
to be offering a parody of that anti-Semitic propaganda in this episode.

>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,"

And I believe that is a gross exaggeration, but I'll look through my posts
on the subject and see if I claimed any such thing.  Having said that, the
references to the Holocaust in GR are many, and as they seem closely linked
to the major themes, events, characters of the novel, take on added
significance.

If GR is not a "Holocaust Book," ...  not a "V-2 Book" or a "WW II Book" or
even a "War Book." then what is it?

Cordially,
Doug