Ethical Diversions

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 22/06/2006:

> Neither Pynchon nor his readers, however, can plead
> ignorance.  And that's the important part there ...

I don't think anyone has ever claimed here that Pynchon or his readers 
were ignorant of the Holocaust, Dave.

best

>> I agree that the other uses of the noun "holocaust" (small "h") in 
>> the novel carry with them a reminder for the reader of the Holocaust 
>> (capital "H"). It will always be a loaded word for us. But it wasn't 
>> a loaded word at the time when the events being described in the 
>> novel were happening, and so in terms of the narrative (i.e., the 
>> story) and the characters the use of the word has nothing whatsoever 
>> to do with Nazi genocide. It's in that way (along with all those 
>> loaded associations and images of smoke, soap, gas, the Oven Game 
>> etc) that the tension I mentioned is created and sustained in the 
>> text for the reader.