Somewhat NP Argentinians bound for Germany

[jbor]

----------
>From: JBFRAME at aol.com
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Somewhat NP Argentinians bound for Germany
>Date: Fri, Aug 4, 2000, 3:30 PM
>

>
> Actually, by the spring of 1945, Argentina was at war with what remained of
> the Third Reich, & U-boats would not have been too welcome in Buenos Aires.
> The myth of Eva Peron's direct involvement with the Germans in WWII were
> perpetrated by anti-peronistas in the late fifties.  There were even some
> impressive looking documents forged to give some validity to the story.
> That being said, there may be some truth to her involvement after the war --
> especially her famous European Tour -- arranging Swiss bank accounts for her
> husband, etc.  You don't need nazi gold to account for Peron's later wealth
> in Spanish exile.  He looted Argentina the same way Marcos looted the
> Philippines.

Yes, the connections are a wee bit strained all around (Graciela Imago
Portales = Evita? Is that what's being suggested?), and in my reading
Pynchon isn't in the habit of perpetuating historical myth. There's so much
more intrinsic thematic and narrative substance in the Argentine thread of
*GR*, including the faux-Borges couplet (383.19) ... the idealisation of the
pampas ... the discussion of centralised govt vs provincial
self-determination ("gaucho-anarchism") and Graciela's wonderful joke about
Felipe as the "Gaucho Bakunin" being "more like a Gaucho Marx" (386.21) ...
To regard it as a mere excuse to "comment" on some mythical "ratline"
diminishes its significance, owes a little too much to such
Hollywoodisations as 'Boys from Brazil', for mine anyway. Wernher von Braun
went to the US, not Rio de la Plata ...

As I said, the Rucksichtslos might provide far more fertile ground for such
(olfactory) speculation anyway, that is, if sniffing out Nazis is one's
thang.

best