Pynchon & rap

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Terrance wrote:

> As S~Z would argue, I'm sure, I am the only certified
> lunatic on this list.

Sorry to tell you, Terrance, but your last two postings on this thread make it
quite clear that you are safely on the sane side of things.

> Now, we know there is lots of textual support in GR and in
> What does "largely absent" mean? In at least one sense this
> is in fact the case. Isn't it?

It certainly is. The problem is how to account for the fact that the
extermination of the Jews is present in GR only by means of allusion, symbolism
etc. The short scene in DORA is the closest Pynchon gets to the ultimate horror
of the extermination camps. It is certainly a very important scene, and I
attempted to discuss it in textual detail way back when.

jbor has never claimed that there are no allusions to the Holocaust in GR. He has
claimed that it is largely absent from the novel. This is what Terrance says,
this is what I say, this seems to be what Hollander is saying. To claim that it
is obvious that the Holocaust is a central theme in GR is ridiculous and
insulting to the novel ("Have you read Thomas Pynchon's novel GR?" "Yes, it deals
with the Holocaust." "What does it say?" "The Holocaust was bad."). No, the
difficulty is how to account for this relative absence. jbor might perhaps state
that it shows that the Holocaust is not that important in GR, or that it is
subsumed under larger issues. I would perhaps claim that the Holocaust might be
perceived as a central theme of GR precisely because of its relative absence. We
could then go on and discuss this, although we both know that to argue
convincingly one point or the other would take an essay or a book, and even then
we would be far from being able to term the issue "resolved". Big deal, that's
what we're here for.

The question of the importance of the Holocaust in GR could have been, I have
said it many, many times before, an interesting topic for a civilized discussion.
But we're way beyond that possibility, I am afraid...

Thomas