Weissman/Blicero/Hitler and Perverse Homosexuality

The Great Quail quail at libyrinth.com
Wed Oct 17 19:01:16 CDT 2001


Richard writes,

>this is out of left field but:  with the publication of The Hidden 
>Hitler and its claims that Hitler was a homosexual in the early 
>Vienna years, etc., I wonder if one's readings of the theme of 
>perverse homosexuality, depictions of Blicero, the gay concentration 
>camp followers of aforementioned, etc. in GR and V. is changed in 
>any detectable way.

I wouldn't think so; but only because the strain of perverse 
homosexuality evident in the early SA (Sturm Abteilung; aka the 
Brownshirts) has been fairly well documented. Whether old Adolf had 
the occasionally playtime with Ernst Rohm or his early Viennese 
buddies doesn't seem to add or detract from the weird vibe of 
repressed sadism that emerges from study of the SA, which partially 
informed Pynchon in the creation of Blicero. (I am guessing.)

>note--the emphasis is on "perverse" homosexuality not homosexuality 
>in of itself, which is of course not perverse.

A good point. One thing that really irritates me about Shirer's 
otherwise excellent "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" (I mean, 
besides the countless Ribbentrop telegrams quoted verbatim)(And the 
fact I have trouble pronouncing Shirer's last name) is the thread of 
homophobia that runs throughout the work....

--Quail
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
http://www.TheModernWord.com

"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each
event -- in the living act, the undoubted deed -- there, some unknown
but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from
behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!
How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall?"
      --Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"
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