Fascination with an enemy’s machinery can feel like a shameful private vice

Evidence

“Unheimlich,” he thought: there was no French word; he studied them with a mixture of repugnance and fascination. Outside, the heavy rain of the Ardennes was beginning to fall with the darkness, its drumming muffled by the snow. Unconsciously, he strained to hear the occasional noises from the crew room, afraid of being surprised, as if he were poring over obscene photographs. — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 269

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 269
• XREF: connects to: Familiarity with the world is inescapable even for its enemies