Talk:Marathon Man (novel)
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Mengele is speculation?
[edit]It seems pretty clear to me that Christian Szell is based on the real-life Josef Mengele. Szell was a doctor who ran experiments at Auschwitz. The real-life Mengele was a doctor who ran experiments at Auschwitz. Szell moved to Paraguay after the war. The real-life Mengele moved to Paraguay after the war, and Simon Wiesenthal had been claiming it since 1967 (Wiesenthal, Simon. The Murderers Among Us. Saturday Evening Post. 3/11/1967. Vol. 240 Issue 5. p38-53, 13p).
Mengele and Szell are mentioned together in the book as the "twin angels" of Auschwitz. The real-life Mengele was indeed known as the Angel of Death, most likely as a play on his name. "Angel" in German is "Engel." Szell is called "der weisser Engel."
Several commentators make such a connection. e.g.:
- Christopher P. Toumey in The Moral Character of Mad Scientists: A Cultural Critique of Science (Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 4. (Autumn, 1992), pp. 411-437)
- Victoria Allison in White Evil: Peronist Argentina in the US Popular Imagination Since 1955 (American Studies International 42 no1 4-48 F 2004)
- Pico Iyer in Searches the Mengele Mystery (Time, Monday, Jun. 24, 1985)
- Wiesenthal's Last Hunt (Time, Monday, Sep. 26, 1977)
- (Google News has several possible hits, as well, but they're all subscription-only)
All of this together leads to the conclusion that the Szell character was inspired, at least in part, by Josef Mengele. So unless you can give me a good reason to ignore Time Magazine and peer-reviewed journals, it's going back in. superlusertc 2007 August 17, 06:54 (UTC)
- Oop! It was actually Paraguay in the book superlusertc 2007 August 17, 07:06 (UTC)
Marathon running
[edit]I think the synopsis should include a reference to his marathon-running skills, and how they unexpectedly come to fit into the story. 86.145.156.23 (talk) 15:05, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
Mother's name
[edit]Babe's mother's name is Rebekkah.
From page 182 of the Random House Digital, Inc., Jul 3, 2001 edition - ISBN 0345439724, 9780345439727 WhisperToMe (talk) 04:34, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
Plot synopsis?
[edit]The "plot synopsis" section makes no sense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.218.23.114 (talk) 01:29, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
I agree. At one point it says: "Tom's PhD dissertation aims to clear his father's name of alleged Nazi collaboration." It wasn't Nazi collaboration his father was accused of, but Communism.
Szell's relative
[edit]From the 1st Ballentine Books Edition (January 8, 2013), published by Open Road Media, ASIN # B00AQAD1Z0 (eBook)
- Page 14/312 says that "Kaspar Szell" is the real name of "Kurt Hesse" (the guy who dies in the beginning)
- Page 214/312 states ""Szell's father died accidentally within the last couple weeks."" - So the guy who died is Szell's father in the books.