Klarinet Archive - Posting 000972.txt from 1998/09

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] The clarinet in literature
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 19:49:06 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote:
>>In the fiction novel, "The Boys From Brazil" (which deals with the cloning
of Adolf Hitler), one of the young Hitler clones plays clarinet very well.
This phenomenon was duplicated in the film when the Wiesenthal character shows
up at the door and the young boy comes to the door with his clarinet in
hand.>>

I wonder if Ira Levin intended this scene as a sly way of suggesting that "the
truth will out," as something hidden bobs to the surface of the gene pool.
Hitler (the real one) concealed that he had more Jewish blood than many of the
people he exterminated. Maybe it manifests itself in his fictional clone as
this talent for clarinet-playing. Today, Itzhak Perlman has revived the
violin and the ensemble for klezmer music, but in the early 20th c. (and still
in 1976, when Levin wrote his novel), the stereotypical klezmer musician was
an itenerant clarinetist.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"At a mass meeting in Berlin, Adolf Hitler ... shrieked,
'And who is responsible for all our troubles?!'
"Ben Cohen shouted, 'The bicycle riders!'
Hitler looked up, astonished. 'Why the bicycle riders?'
"'Why the Jews?' replied Cohen."
--Leo Rosten, _The Joys of Yiddish_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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