MetaChat - In 1937

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20 November 2006

In 1937 Murray Constantine wrote "Swastika Night". Set 600 years in the future, it presented a dystopia where Hitler was worshipped as a God and Women were segregated and subjugated. The book anticipated the holocaust, and is said to have been a major influence on George Orwell's later and better known work 1984. In 1985, Murray Constantine was discovered to be a pseudonym for Katharine Burdekin. Here's to Katharine.

post by: seanyboy at: 17:25 | 6 comments

Wow. From the links, that seems like an engrossing, enthralling, and very unsettling read!
Have you ever seen the film Fatherland?

posted by getoffmylawn 20 November | 17:36

I'm not a huge fan of Nazi books, but I was really taken by this. I'm just a sucker for the proto-feminists I guess.

I was sorely tempted to post something more sensational along the lines of "Feminist Novel from The Past. Written by lesbian pretending to be man. Predicts Holocaust before anyone knew what was going on"

But I didn't.
I haven't read the book, but as soon as I pluck up the courage to ask for a book called "Swastika Night", then I'm off to the library.

posted by seanyboy 20 November | 17:45

My dad watches the History channel, all the time, and I had a very intense history prof. in college - I might venture to say that I know more about WWII and the holocaust than I would like to know. However, that has made me deeply, morbidly and ravenously curious about the subject. There is another awesome movie about the holocaust called the Devil's Arithmetic. Fabulous story.

posted by getoffmylawn 20 November | 18:04

The title of this book instantly reminded me of Norman Spinrad's Iron Dream*, which presents a sci-fi novel written by Adolf Hitler, an untalented writer living in New York. Any similarities between the two?

* The link goes to Ursula K. le Guin's review of the book

posted by Daniel Charms 20 November | 18:05

I saw that show last night too, seanyboy, it was awesome beyond belief! Margaret Atwood and Iain Banks, yay!

posted by By the Grace of God 21 November | 06:44

My dad watches the History channel

The ~~History~~ Hitler channel. A fine channel, but the constant, hourly bukkake of Nazi-related stuff gets a bit tiresome, doesn't it?

posted by matteo 21 November | 07:46

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