Somewhat NP Argentinians bound for Germany

[jbor]

jbf:
> The ratline was usually a system of false passports that got certain persons
> on to merchant vessels.  I think very few people actually left on U-boats,
> whereas many just got out with new identities, like Eichmann & Mengele.  It's
> part of Pynchon's style to tape into the myths of the late 20th century to
> bring out certain aspects of the absurdity of historical legend.  Another
> example would be the alligators in the New York sewer system.
snip

Yes, the suggestion that there were "subs full of Nazis headed for Argentina
and other South American countries" is indeed myth -- falsification of fact.
And, the contention that this sort of revisionist soapboxing is what Pynchon
is primarily concerned with in *GR* is ludicrous.

>From 'Is It OK To Be A Luddite?'
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-luddite.html

> By 1945, the factory system - which, more than any piece of machinery, was
> the real and major result of the Industrial Revolution - had been extended
> to include the Manhattan Project, the German long-range rocket program and
> the death camps, such as Auschwitz. It has taken no major gift of prophecy
> to see how these three curves of development might plausibly converge, and
> before too long. Since Hiroshima, we have watched nuclear weapons multiply
> out of control, and delivery systems acquire, for global purposes,
> unlimited range and accuracy. An unblinking acceptance of a holocaust
> running to seven- and eight-figure body counts has become - among those
> who, particularly since 1980, have been guiding our military policies -
> conventional wisdom.

That's "holocaust" with an "h".

best

----------
>From: JBFRAME at aol.com
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Somewhat NP Argentinians bound for Germany
>Date: Sat, Aug 5, 2000, 12:58 PM
>