Ethical Diversions

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 22/06/2006:

> << So, the Holocaust is something which is occurring offstage in GR, 
> and
> it's never foregrounded explicitly precisely because the vast majority 
> of
> characters and narrative vantages wouldn't have known anything about  
> it. >>
>
> I think we agree in sum, but isn't this a little circular?  I.e. -- 
> or, he
> created characters with limited knowledge so that he wouldn't have to 
> foreground
> the Holocaust.

I guess it's sort of the same thing, but probably we do disagree a 
little bit. I'd argue that he wasn't so much worried about the "power 
of taboo" as representing what was and wasn't common knowledge at the 
time. I also think there are some characters who did know (might have 
known) something about what was happening in the death camps (e.g., 
Pirate, Katje, Blicero, Wim and the Dutch Resistance leaders), and 
Pynchon depicts what was going on in their minds w/r/t that knowledge.

I think the difference between Catch-22 and GR in this regard is 
instructive. In Catch-22 it's as if the Holocaust never happened (for 
the reasons which Heller gave). That's not the case in GR i don't 
think.

best