the holocaust in TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Neither the writers nor the characters were Jewish, so I doubt the second definition. I think the term is used in its original etymology, as a large, all-consuming fire.

Laura 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:

>Given when the line was written (by Donald Ogden Stewart) it's probably the second meaning:
>
>noun
>1 destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war: a nuclear holocaust | the threat of imminent holocaust.
>• (the Holocaust) the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime during the period 1941–45. More than 6 million European Jews, as well as members of other persecuted groups, such as gypsies and homosexuals, were murdered at concentration camps such as Auschwitz.
>2 historical a Jewish sacrificial offering that is burned completely on an altar.
>
>and not so jarring.
>
>
>2016-12-01 17:31 GMT+01:00 kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>:
>
>It calls to mind The Philadelphia Story (1940 ), where a drunken Jimmy Stewart gushes romantically to Katherine Hepburn that when he looks in her eyes he sees  "... holocausts ...". Always jarring, given when the line was spoken.
>
>
>Laura 
>
>
>
>
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
>
>
>
>Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>published in 1927, Ms Woolf has a character who thinks
>
>dramatically, shall we say, use this word to describe a 
>
>major disaster that does not happen regarding her husband
>
>and a situation....."not a holocaust" she says to herself.....
>
>
>Where it also does not contain the burning/ burnt offering 
>
>major meaning of the word long before the historic Holocaust
>
>but is used as Pynchon does in GR, I believe. (along with the 
>
>established 'burning' meaning but not directly alluding to the Holocaust, 
>
>I also think I remember, without looking anything up. )
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20161201/07d660f5/attachment.html>