The revolutionaries of May

[Rob Jackson]

> Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:44:56 +0200
> From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=E1nos_Sz=E9kely?= <miksaapja at gmail.com>
> Subject: The revolutionaries of May
>
> Now that the motto for IV is public (Sous les pavés, la plage in the
> original French, one of the most famous Situationist graffiti in May
> 1968, Paris), thinking it over, it seems to reaffirm my hunch that IV
> can also be read as kind of a connoisseurs guide to GR. I mean to
> reading much of GR as a topical commentary on "the roach end of the
> sixties" in the West (meaning both Reaganite California and the
> Western World).
>
> I don't know if there are any studies on the influence of Situationism
> here, but not the beginning of Part 2, "In the Zone", with the most
> unusual use of  "We" for a point of view ("We are safely past the
> "Eis-Heiligen"), ending the metaphorical sequence with an explicit
> reference to "the revolutionaries of May". Which makes no sense in the
> end-of-the-war situation of May 1945 of which it is supposed to be a
> description, but makes perfect sense in the post-revolutionary
> (post-May 1968) mood of, say, late 1969, or 1970, which can easily be
> the real subject of the description.


I agree that the phrase "the revolutionaries of May" in GR is one that  
might resonate with the 1968 Paris Student Revolts. But there's really  
nothing else supporting that interpretation in the text.

However, that first paragraph in Part 3 of GR does explicitly identify  
a temporal context: "In certain years, especially War years ... " And  
the three "ice saints" mentioned are specifically Polish:

"In Poland, the Ice Saints are St. Pancras, St. Servatus and St.  
Boniface; St. Boniface's feast day falling on May 14. The trio are  
known collectively as the 'cold gardeners', the three days culminating  
in 'Zimna Zośka' (Cold Sophia's), the feast day of St. Sophia which  
falls on May 15."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Saints

So my guess is that the most likely direct referent for the phrase is  
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, particularly considering the  
recollection of the encounter Slothrop has with the "tiny frost  
flower" daughter of a concentration camp commandant and her gruesome  
toys recounted just after this:

"The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Polish: Powstanie w getcie warszawskim;  
German: Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto) was the Jewish resistance that  
arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World  
War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the  
remaining ghetto population to the Treblinka extermination camp.

"The insurgency was launched against the Germans on January 18, 1943.  
The most significant portion of the rebellion took place from April 19  
until May 16, 1943, and ended when the poorly armed and supplied  
resistance was crushed by the German troops under the direct command  
of Jürgen Stroop. It was the largest single revolt by the Jews during  
the Holocaust."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_ghetto_uprising

Details of time and place "in the zone" are as precise here as  
elsewhere in the novel. The last battle of the war in Europe was  
fought on May 14-15 1945, the Battle of Poljana in Slovenia, which is  
why in the text Slothrop & co "found the countryside at peace, this  
year, by a scant few days."

And "Major-General Kammler" of the SS had replaced Walter Dornberger  
as the director of the V-2 program in August 1944 and had organised  
the move of the Peenemunde facilities to the underground Mittelwerke  
complex in August 1943. He is supposed to have committed suicide  
somewhere around the 9-10 May 1945, somewhere en route from the Tyrol  
to Prague, "on one of the main arterials of the spring's last  
dissolution and retreat." (282)

best regards