2.7 KiB
What happens after Adolf Hitler wakes up alive and well in a Berlin park in 2011
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Author: u/lucraft *
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URL: http://www.amazon.com/Look-Whos-Back-Timur-Vermes/dp/0857052926
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Score: 0
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Created: 2014-08-03T07:01:22
Post:
Comments:
u/Bobertus [+20] (an hour later)
Why don't you say a few words why this book belongs on /r/rational? Having read 90% of it, I don't see it as rationalist fiction.
u/lucraft [+1] (16 days later)
Hmm, I'm sorry if you think I misdirected you.
Let's see:
- it involves a protagonist thrust into another world or unusual environment
- he has an outside perspective on this new world, which he uses to rapidly raise in status within it
- he immediately begins optimising the world he finds himself in, according to a very specific and coherent set of goals.
- he believes he can change the world in big ways, unlike normal people who assume this is not possible, and by believing it he effects much more change than he would have otherwise
These are common tropes on /r/rational so to me it felt like it fit right in.
u/Bobertus [+1] (16 days later)
Hmm, I'm sorry if you think I misdirected you. Hmm, I'm sorry if you think I misdirected you.
I've read it before you gave that recommendation.
I think it's not good /r/rational material as it's utterly unrealistic (and as a parody, that's okay). The whole book is based on a misunderstanding between Hitler (who thinks he is Hitler) and the Germans (who think Hitler is just a method actor). The only reason this misunderstanding prevails is that it's funnyer that way.
u/lucraft [+1] (17 days later)
The whole book is based on a misunderstanding between Hitler (who thinks he is Hitler) and the Germans (who think Hitler is just a method actor). The only reason this misunderstanding prevails is that it's funnyer that way.
I think part of the reason we see this differently is that the book goes out of it's way to avoid showing Hitler saying things like "No, I really am the actual Hitler, I just time travelled here from the past".
So it looks like the author is avoiding a problem. But I just don't think it's actually a problem. You could write a scene where he says that and people could say in return "wow you are so dedicated" or something.
i.e. if you already believe he's a performance artist, everything he does is just confirming evidence of that theory.
Yes, it's unlikely. It's much more likely that he'd be put into a mental institution at the start, but it seems quite possible.