Otto Rahn e a Demanda do Graal, A Vida Aventureira do Verdadeiro Indiana Jones

by Nigel Graddon

Quem foi Otto Rahn? Tratando-se de uma tão notável personalidade, porque é que quase ninguém ouviu falar dele? Mas será mesmo assim tão desconhecido? Os guiões de “Os Salteadores da Arca Perdida” e “Indiana Jones e a Última Cruzada” retratam as aventuras do autor de “Cruzada Contra o Graal” e “A Corte de Lúcifer”, obras já publicadas em Portugal. Diz-se que o filólogo, natural do Hesse alemão, descobriu tabuletas rúnicas nas grutas dos Pirinéus, resultado de um fabuloso trabalho de investigação académica na interpretação de mensagens ocultas contidas no “Parsifal”, obra-mestra da Idade Medieval devotada ao Graal.
Himmler acreditava que os fabulosos artefactos identificados por Otto Rahn incluíam o Santo Graal, a Lança do Destino, as Tábuas de Moisés, a Arca da Aliança, o Candelabro Sagrado e a Urna do Maná. Há quem defenda que Rahn era um guru nazi que retinha uma imensa influência sobre os seus superiores hierárquicos no seio do regime de Hitler, tendo convencido a hierarquia nazi de que o Graal era o Livro Sagrado dos Arianos que, uma vez encontrado, justificaria as suas extremistas teorias políticas e recuperaria os ancestrais mitos germanos.
Mas as coisas nem sempre são o que parecem, e à medida que surgem novos factos acerca de Otto Rahn surge-nos uma história ainda mais extraordinária. Será possível que - longe de ser só um graduado das SS - Otto Rahn fosse também um defensor das liberdades numa era marcada pelo caos e pela crueldade? Terá sido o argonauta moderno que procurou o Tosão de Ouro com o intuito de reacender a Luz da Humanidade?
Descubra a ousada e perigosa vida do tenente das SS cujas obras e aventuras, no mundo real, inspiraram a criação da conhecida personagem hollywoodesca de Indiana Jones.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories, Paranormal

523 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Max Renn · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a glorious mess of a book. Copping heavily from the 'floating duck and weave of inference and proximity' stylebook of his subject (not unlike the better-known rahn imitators baigent, lincoln and leigh), Graddon leads us on a merry chase through a shadow world where ancient left-hand paths meet the early 20th century freakshow of nazi/tibet shamanistic syncretism.

And for most of the book its a wild ride. Imagine clinging desperately to the back of a hummingbird as it alights at only the most exotic flowers of european occulture, just long enough to implicate or exonerate Otto Rahn of this nefarious deed or noble that. Plotting a narrow moonlit path for our hero, cast as a cathari parfait in the lair of the beast, a noble knight smeared in ashes in order to get close enough to pierce the heart of evil. And like the author i so want to believe, who wouldnt...

Unfortunately as we near the end, the author leaves the lovely mythopoetic shadows to delve into the gross materia of WW II politics and the whole thing comes to a shuddering halt. The lovingly crafted tapestry unravels on the floor of history. This unfortunate detour seems to be part of the authors half-hearted attempt to justify the, most likely publisher-instigated, "Indiana Jones" business. Not sure who thought this was going to work but whatever... the occult stuff is still aces and a whole field of rabbit holes is effortlessly opened up, for those who go for that sort of thing to fall into.

[Laura-Lee]

You need to have NOTHING to do with "great uncle Otto." I don't care how much this author pretends or promotes him as a "real Indiana Jones". He was a hardcore Nazi and did his searching in order to find OCCULT stuff for Hitler and the Nazis.
That's the reason he has made it to my "touch-and-lose-your-soul" book shelf.
Sincerely, Laura-Lee RAHN

[Antonio Jorge]

3,7

[Trish · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm. I picked this up expecting it to be a biography of one of the more unusual characters in pre-WWII Germany. However, it rather fails in that regard. While there is some biographical information on Rahn, the author has relied as much on speculation as fact.

Rahn spent much of his life looking for the Holy Grail and believed it was linked to the Cathars, and indeed published on the subject in the early thirties. This inevitably brought him to Himmler's attention, so he was drafted to serve on Himmler's staff. Ultimately, he was supposed to have committed suicide on a Tyrolean mountain, having been given a choice of ending his own life (largely because he was gay and indiscrete about it, given the SS attitudes in that regard) or having it ended for him.

However, that's about where the facts run out and the author launches into speculation. So all in all, the book is more about trying to prove whether or not Rahn was pro or anti Hitler and the Nazi cause, what esoteric and occult links he may have had, etcetera, than a biography. Thus far, though, the author's conclusions have been confused, rather inconsistent and far from convincing.

Okay, those who know me know I've got something of an interest in the weirder/esoteric side of pre-WW2 Germany, as well as the actual history, but even I found the last third of this to be unstructured and confused, with the author throwing in pretty much every weird and occult society ever mentioned in connection with the period, and more besides, and remaining unconvincing in his conclusions.

It's a pity the author didn't just stick with a more standard biography!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 2/3s of this book are a decent history and breakdown of the life of Otto Rahn. As the book progresses into its' final part, the author begins to try to break down the different mystical ideas and groups and give some form of insight into the thought processes of Otto Rahn. In my opinion, he fails. Mostly because it seems very disjointed. Maybe taking a second look at an outline and finding a way to codex the idea he was trying to present would have made it easier to read. All in all though, this was a decent book on the paranormal history of the Third Reich and one of its' most interesting characters.