GRGR Holocaust, spleen

[Will Layman]

The genius of the book, for me, is the degree to which it allows readers to
refract it through multiple lenses.

On one reading of the book shortly after my kids were born, all I could see
in it was the prominent symbolism of children -- mostly abandoned and lost.
The reference to Dorothy is not lost here.  Gottfried is nothing if not an
even worse off little Gale, parents gone and NEVER coming back from his
nightmare Oz.  In the Christmas plainsong section alone, the references to
dying, lost children (not the least of which is the Christ child, kids) are
heart-tugging.

That's not what the book is "about," but it is one of hundreds (thousands?)
of thematic strands that allow a "whole" reading of the work within your
life.

-- Will

On 10/26/05 2:57 PM, "Paul Mackin" <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> On Oct 26, 2005, at 1:43 PM, pynchonoid wrote:
> 
>> 
>> In 1999, I wrote:
>> [...] If you read the "carriage" as a train car to a
>> Nazi death camp, this allusion makes even more sense
>> -- Pynchon announcing right up front what lies at the
>> heart of this novel: the Holocaust of the Jews, and
>> the forces (corporate, governmental, and military)
>> that brought it about. [...]
> 
> The Holocaust may be heavy in your thoughts. virtually all you can
> think about, while reading Gravity's Rainbow. Why not leave it at
> that? Tone down the hyperbole.
> 
>> 
>> "Heart" having caused such distress last time 'round,
>> I now suggest that the Holocaust (and genocide more
>> generally) be considered GR's spleen,
> 
> 
> Not to sound disrespectful but how about calling it the tail  that
> wags Doug's dog?
> 
>> and that perhaps
>> the Holocaust dead (and the rest of the war dead and
>> injured and afflicted) might be seen as Their
>> acceptable level of collateral damage along the way of
>> achieving Their manifold objectives, as was the case
>> for the victims of the Southeast Asian war taking
>> place while Pynchon wrote GR, not to mention, now, in
>> the Middle East.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> http://pynchonoid.org
>> "everything connects"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> __________________________________
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>> 
>