Blicero

[jbor]

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>From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>

I'm not sure whether you really are interested in discussion. Nevertheless,
a couple of corrections ...

> Blicero/Weissmann:  "malignant," "a cankered root" (666);

These terms describe "Schutzhaftlingsfuhrer Blicero" which is the "phantom"
commander of the "hypothetical chain of command" the 175s have set up.

snip

> these are all
> Pynchon's depictions of Blicero as viewed through the eyes of many
> characters (Enzian, Katje, Gottfried, Pokler, Thanatz, Greta).

I'm not sure that either Thanatz or Greta are particularly "reliable". For a
start, it is clear that Enzian, Katje and Gottfried knew Blicero better than
the other three you mention: they each lived with him for a significant
period of time and saw more facets of his character and behaviour than the
latter three. And neither Thanatz nor Greta seem to have a firm grasp on
"sanity" themselves, and are certainly nowhere near as calm as Enzian or
Katje are in their reflections on Blicero and his "development". Remember
that what has been mooted w/r/t Blicero's character is "equivocation", and
there is more than enough evidence of equivocation in the text imo.

snip

> the final picture of Blicero shows him considering
> Gottfried's sacrifice in the Rocket "for purposes of self-arousal"
> (758).

The subject of that particular sentence is "anyone", not Blicero.

best