pynchon-l-digest V2 #1840

[Doug Millison]

Just trying to straighten you out, Mackin. You seemed confused, 
attributing to me statements that DeLong made in his review of Evans 
book, so I set out the relevant quotes to clarify.

By the way, A.J.P. Taylor's theories about Hitler don't seem to 
receive the high regard that their champions claim here, although I'm 
beginning to understand Taylor's appeal to those who would like to 
revise history's condemnation of Hitler's ideology.  From a standard 
reference:
"The British historian A.J.P. Taylor challenged the thesis of sole Nazi guilt
in 1961, coincidently the same year in which Fritz Fischer revived the
notion of German guilt for World War I. Taylor boldly suggested that
Hitler's "ideology" was nothing more than the sort of nationalist ravings
"which echo the conversation of any Austrian cafe or German
beer-house"; that Hitler's ends and means resembled those of any
"traditional German statesman"; and that the war came because Britain
and France dithered between appeasement and resistance, leading Hitler
to miscalculate and bring on the accident of September 1939. Needless
to say, revisionism on a figure so odious as Hitler sparked vigorous
rebuttal and debate."
from:
"international relations" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
<http://www.members.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=108375&sctn=16>
[Accessed 25 May 2001].

Given the neo-Nazi resurgence, Taylor may in fact be right that 
Hitler's odious views are "nothing more than the sort of nationalist 
ravings 'which echo the conversation of any Austrian cafe or German 
beer-house' " -- that's what can happen when people forget where such 
"ravings" can lead, I suppose, helped along by misleading histories 
such as Taylor's own.

I'll post more about Esther in V. when I get my hands on my copy of 
that book again.  Somehow I don't think Pynchon wrote those passages 
with "jbor's" need to deconstruct the Holocaust in mind -- but I do 
have to admire that opportunistic Biblical exegesis approach, prying 
out bits and pieces of Pynchon's text to confirm a prejudice and meet 
the needs of the current argument. Very clever.

-Doug


>Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 20:19:04 -0400
>From: "Paul Mackin" <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
>Subject: Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #1838
>
>If anyone can tell me what Millison is talking about please tell me.
>
>             P.
> [rest chopped to minimize electron labor - waste mgmt]

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