Screaming across the sky

In that last post about Gravity's Rainbow, I mentioned little meerkats of brilliance poking their heads out of the subterranean warren of symbolism and digression that make up the bulk of the 900 pages.  One of these shining rodents of authorship is the longest episode in the novel (no chapters, here we have "episodes"), and is almost a stand-alone short story.  It focuses on a character, Franz Pokler, who had been mentioned maybe once before, and the history of his involvement with developing the dreaded 00000 Schwarzgerat as the holocaust occurs in the background.  I know that's just blahblah to those who haven't read this book.  I won't really try to describe the plot, but it's a case where all of the oblique symbolism and allegory and general verbosity of Pynchon come together into a story that is both thought-provoking and poignant without being heavy-handed (how many short stories about the holocaust can say that?).  It's by turns amusing and horrifying and ends in great sadness.  In the simplest terms, its about the manufacture and manipulation of innocence.


The picture is from the holocaust memorial in Berlin- relevant!