Von Braun Quote

[Joseph Tracy]

Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and 

continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existance after death.
                                                               

     Werhner Von Braun

I find this quote to be aptly sinister in it's sentimental affirmation of a convenient dual faith in science and personal  

immortality. WVB is the perfect archetype of the scientists who made a smooth transition from serving fascists engaged in 

mass murder to either communists engaged in mass murder or American patriotism. This bizarre continuity of  dangerous 

science projects in the midst of chaos, science projects which seem to actually be accelerated by wars is  a central theme in 

the novel, as is the mindlass tropism of these science projects toward unfathomable powers of annihilation. 


 Von Braun's use of the term "extinction "seems a particularly awkward and revealing choice 

of words, since it is usually used for life forms, which are inherently fragile and subject to "extinction"  rather than a 

word applied to infinitely mutable materials.  So Von Braun's language  nag's at the brain and fails to fully obscure his 

role in the Nazi attempts at mass "extinction".  Perhaps it is even a subliminal try a t mollifying a sore consciense.But Von 

Braun's deep dreams were of space travel not militarism, and the abuse of dreams  and naivete is also a theme of the novel. 

Growing up in the 50'and 60's I often heard exultations of WVB and never till years later heard about his service to Hitler's 

Germany. So for me the quote carries the story in GR into a  post-war world dominated by naive American dreams, confirmed 

by Nazi scientists re--defined as great Americans. It  condenses a weird Calvinist blend of science and "spirituality". It trivializes the 

immense extinction made possible by rocketry and the splitting of the atom, and it renders  personal moral choices 

meaningless.It is like a dream of the perfect rocket launch with no gravity.  


Clearly Von Braun and Pynchon have puzzled over similar issues in great depth. GR tracks Pynchon's thoughts with gravity 

fully  balancing the levity.    




Joseph Tracy
brook7 at earthlink.net
Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
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