GR Herero religion

[jbor]

"The history of the old Hereros is one of lost messages. It began in
mythical times, when the sly hare who nests in the Moon brought death among
men, instead of the Moon's true message. The true message has never come."

Enzian is born into a situation where traditional Herero religion and
culture has already been corrupted by contact with Europeans. The story of
his parentage symbolises how his life is tainted from the get-go.

Isn't Enzian seeking "return" in the Rocket? Isn't his notion of "return"
connected with self-sacrifice, obliteration? His survival on the great trek
across the Kalahari is just luck (he fell asleep), isn't it? Same with his
being "passed over" by the German soldiers. The text calls it "a Herod
myth". (In fact, evading "the murderers in blue" probably has more to do
with Weissmann's protection than anything else.)

I don't know what your point is (nor with Amy Sprue).

best


on 19/4/03 12:32 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> At the bottom of page 322, we  read that Enzian, at one time in his
> life, could not imagine a life without return. His mother gave birth to
> him out of wedlock, his father a Russian sailor whose name she could not
> pronounce,  she broke the law and she would have been banished, but the
> Germans were a bigger problem and they could no longer worry about
> enforcing the laws that held them together. Things fall apart. This is
> exactly what happens in that great novel. Anyway, the circle village,
> the mandella is broken.
> 
> Notice the respect that the nomadic tribe (Ovatjimba)  have for his
> religion and his traditions, they RETURN him to his mother's village
> after they care for him. Return.
> 
> Not what the Germans will do at all.
> 
> No return. 60% were exterminated. 323
> 
> Weissmann, insatiable for guilt (colonial white guilt) believes that He
> has taken Enzian away from religion. Enzian loves him and lets him have
> his guilt, but the truth is that the gods left, the religion fell apart,
> its organization broke.
>