the holocaust in TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

[Mark Kohut]

here, for To the Lighthouse, I think the older definition that Laura and
protomen referred to
is Woolf's.

On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 4:23 PM, Becky Lindroos <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> Yes - the second definition because this book was published in 1927 and
> the first meaning  wouldn’t have been in Woolf’s mind at that point even if
> it is that most common definition now.  I think if she’s written it after
> 1945 or so she wouldn’t have even used the word.  She wold have said ‘burnt
> offering to God’ or something.   It never would have caused a jolt in the
> reader until after that time.
>
> The word was first used in connection with the German Nazi regime in 1942
> - prior to that it had been used by Churchill to describe the Armenian
> Genocide in 1915 but I don’t think “holocaust” got wide usage until into
> the 1960s or even ‘70s (a TV miniseries).
>
> “Holocaust“ comes from the the Greek word holokauston, itself a
> translation of the Hebrew olah, meaning “completely burnt offering to God,”
> implying that Jews and other “undesirables” murdered during World War II
> were a sacrifice to God.
>
> Becky
>
> > On Dec 1, 2016, at 9:43 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> >
> > 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. )
> >
> >
>
> Becky
> https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com
>
>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20161201/d4dbd39b/attachment.html>