SLSL: newspaper photo

[Kumpe]

I must have missed Kai's idea in the other millenium, yet it sounds quite
plausible to me.

1. Once I read an article in an magazine about  a theme-bar near Lakehurst,
featuring a huge wallpainting of Hindenburg in flight. This picture had the
swastikas on the fins whiped  out, in order not to annoy anyone. So, if
there's a Lakehurst/Hindenburg theme-bar on Long Island in the 90s, than
the airship and the desaster should  have  aplace in local history and
mythology. (Those of us, who have  first hand experience with the area,
please comment on this)

2. The topos of the crashing airship. In his story "The Alchemist's
Question" Michael Moorcock calls  the image of a crashing zeppelin simply,
the symbol for all high and failed dreams of the twentieth century. So
unconcious or not, the Lakehurst Accident shurely must have had some
influence on TRP and most likely on his subjects.

best,

Christian.

Kai wrote:
 "a brightly colored pin-up of brigitte bardot was flanked by newspaper photos
 of the duke of windsor making his abdication speech and the HINDENBURG
going up
 in flames". (low-lands, p. 66, picador edition)

 that lakehurst catastrophy of the german airship hindenburg, which was among
 the hottest high-tech of its time, happened just 2 (in words: "two") days
 before trp entered this world. must still have been the talk of the town
when
 he came here: this can - as i once suggested to you in a former millenium
- be
 considered to be a kinda unconscious motivation for writing gravity's
rainbow.
 the mention in this early story makes my thesis plausible, no?