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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Now this was a good book. Can't say I loved the other Pynchon I've read (we'll see how Vineland treats me in the end) but this was a doozy.
informative
slow-paced
Not one of my favorite Pynchon novels. I unfortunately need to put it in the bucket with Vineland.
One can observe a shift in Pynchon's writing post-Gravity's Rainbow - his bibliography is notably divaricated by a 17 year gap between the publications of the aforementioned opus and 1990's Vineland, a split accompanied by notable stylistic divergences. What sticks out to me most, at the moment, is character work. Sure, his earlier work is filled with memorable personages (many being the focal point of incredibly profound moments, usually serving as a culmination of their character arc, some which will surely stick with me forever) - yet as a whole, the characters themselves aren't what I find most compelling about the novel. Speculating on Pynchon's personal life feels strange to me, but I suppose something changed, because his later works are imbued with a warmth and sincerity that I feel elude most segments of what he penned previously. Mason & Dixon, in particular, feels so impossibly Human. It still has the thematic and stylistic hallmarks one would expect, with the postmodern view of American history and idiosyncratic writing style (I believe an emulation of 18th century techniques, which makes for an invaluable contribution to the atmosphere), but the novel has a whole affected me in a way that little else has. I just hope that I can find the words for it someday. If not the best thing that Pynchon has written, it's undoubtedly my favourite.
Also - between this and my newfound Salman Rushdie fanaticism, I think that historiographic metafiction (forgive the mouthful of a term) is becoming one of my favourite things. I hope to read more of such works whenever I get the chance
Also - between this and my newfound Salman Rushdie fanaticism, I think that historiographic metafiction (forgive the mouthful of a term) is becoming one of my favourite things. I hope to read more of such works whenever I get the chance
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
It took me 22 months to read although I put it down for months at a time and tackled other books. Mason & Dixon is divided into chapters of 10-20 pages in length which makes it easy to read a chapter a day if you want to read at that pace. Pace is important in a novel like this. You need to balance looking up obscure words and references with actually reading the novel, and it does take time to get used to the fact that the book is written in 18th century English with:
- Capitalization of important nouns
- Apostraphation of certain words (rendered = render'd)
- The addition of the letter k to certain words (philosphick, topick)
There are many odd side plots in the book, werebeavers and the hollow earth adventure really stood out for me.
Besides his short story collection I've now read all of Pynchon's novels. I'd say my top 3 list of Pynchon novels is:
1. Against the Day
2. Mason & Dixon
3. Gravity's Rainbow
But if you've never read Pynchon before you should always start with V. or The Crying of Lot 49. Otherwise it will feel like being hit by a freight train.
- Capitalization of important nouns
- Apostraphation of certain words (rendered = render'd)
- The addition of the letter k to certain words (philosphick, topick)
There are many odd side plots in the book, werebeavers and the hollow earth adventure really stood out for me.
Besides his short story collection I've now read all of Pynchon's novels. I'd say my top 3 list of Pynchon novels is:
1. Against the Day
2. Mason & Dixon
3. Gravity's Rainbow
But if you've never read Pynchon before you should always start with V. or The Crying of Lot 49. Otherwise it will feel like being hit by a freight train.
“Ev’rywhere else on earth, Boundaries follow Nature,- coast-lines, ridge-tops, river-banks,- so honoring the Dragon or Shan within, from which Land-scape ever takes its form. To mark a right Line upon the Earth is to inflict upon the Dragon’s very Flesh, a sword-slash, a long, perfect scar, impossible for any who live out here the hear ‘round to see as other than hateful Assault. How can it pass unanswer’d?”
- Capt. Zhang, on the feng-shui of the Mason-Dixon Line
I was admittedly never able to get over the language barrier in this book. Pynchon’s choice to only write in 1770’s lingo and vernacular constantly made my head spin. This was way more confusing than Gravity’s Rainbow: I would finish whole chapters without a single identifiable image to grasp onto. I had to take frequent, long breaks so my head didn’t explode.
That being said, I find that the great thing about Pynchon to be that he seems to understand how cryptic and difficult his writing is and doesn’t require you to get everything to grasp the weight of his themes. Who tells history? Can we trust a historical narrative told to us by someone who has their own agendas? How has historical bias affected religion, humanity, namely, Americans? Was America ever truly able to break away from all of the machinations of the British Monarchy, built to keep them in line (like, perhaps, a big straight line to divide the country into two distinct cultures)? How does America square its need and desire for independence and freedom while still clinging to its colonialist roots, like race-based slavery?
All of these serious, heavy questions asked in a story full of were-beavers, talking dogs, holy sandwiches, disembodied ears, and malicious wheels of cheese. Pynchon’s comedic wit, beautiful, thought-provoking prose, and the endearing friendship of Mason & Dixon is what got me through this book I could barely comprehend, and actaully like it at the end. Even though like 90% of this book flew over my head, I still have an immense respect for the creative spirit the novel has. Can’t wait to read V.
- Capt. Zhang, on the feng-shui of the Mason-Dixon Line
I was admittedly never able to get over the language barrier in this book. Pynchon’s choice to only write in 1770’s lingo and vernacular constantly made my head spin. This was way more confusing than Gravity’s Rainbow: I would finish whole chapters without a single identifiable image to grasp onto. I had to take frequent, long breaks so my head didn’t explode.
That being said, I find that the great thing about Pynchon to be that he seems to understand how cryptic and difficult his writing is and doesn’t require you to get everything to grasp the weight of his themes. Who tells history? Can we trust a historical narrative told to us by someone who has their own agendas? How has historical bias affected religion, humanity, namely, Americans? Was America ever truly able to break away from all of the machinations of the British Monarchy, built to keep them in line (like, perhaps, a big straight line to divide the country into two distinct cultures)? How does America square its need and desire for independence and freedom while still clinging to its colonialist roots, like race-based slavery?
All of these serious, heavy questions asked in a story full of were-beavers, talking dogs, holy sandwiches, disembodied ears, and malicious wheels of cheese. Pynchon’s comedic wit, beautiful, thought-provoking prose, and the endearing friendship of Mason & Dixon is what got me through this book I could barely comprehend, and actaully like it at the end. Even though like 90% of this book flew over my head, I still have an immense respect for the creative spirit the novel has. Can’t wait to read V.
DNF @ 50 pages.
I've attempted to read three Pynchon novels, including this one. In each case, I thought it was a shame that such an obviously talented writer is such a conceited ass, actively preening for the reader while trying to drive them away.
I've attempted to read three Pynchon novels, including this one. In each case, I thought it was a shame that such an obviously talented writer is such a conceited ass, actively preening for the reader while trying to drive them away.
such a beautiful book.
impossible to write about. seems like pynchon knows all the words and how to make them do all the things. there's also something in pynchon that defies re-telling. there is a constant shifting of comprehension. i hate to use drugs as a metaphor, but you know that moment when you're under the influence and you think you've figured it all out but then the next day when you wake up you're right back to knowing nothing? this is that. any grasp or foothold in the text is temporary. pynchon's narrative transitions can resemble a house of mirrors.
how did i get here?
it's daunting to sum this thing and a summary seems futile. you can't do this book justice.
but a friend said, a book wants you to boast about it. it can't boast, it can only give itself to you.
in this case you must also give yourself to the book, because some books change the way you read. this book makes demands and if you rise to them, you will be rewarded. i have wanted to re-read this book for .... 15 years? but i would start and get thrown off the trail. i was lucky this summer to have the time to slow down and settle in. i'm so glad that i did. what a gift, this book. this history lesson gone giddy. this living folkloric creature gone bezerk.
another friend said this book is one of the loveliest gifts an artist has ever given to us.
i'll second that.
another friend and i have been having a conversation about what books give us, or what we get from books. the important thing i get from books, especially a book like this, is that it proves that novels (or non-fiction texts) don't have to behave a certain way. a book can do whatever it wants and that inspires me to be myself. i don't have to behave the way others do. i can carve my own path. this book is like no other, it's not even like other thomas pynchon books.
the big books that pynchon has written chart a course across the face of the planet.
AGAINST THE DAY charts many paths - the traverse family (mostly) scatter around the globe after their father has been assassinated.
V. "roams all over the map".
MASON & DIXON charts simultaneous paths. astronomer charles mason uses the stars to navigate positions on the ground. jeremiah dixon takes that information and creates cartography. he maps the world by referring to the structure of the cosmos. and so the phrase "as above, so below" appears throughout the book. draw your own conclusions as to how pynchon might use this to chart the activities of dutch colonialists in south africa, in measuring colonialists in the so called new world as they prepare to rid the colonies of british rule, or as a way of charting a line between north (wage workers) and south (slave workers).
so, pathways
we remember the opening of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW: "A screaming comes across the sky"
the opening of MASON & DIXON: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs"
and that the opening of AGAINST THE DAY takes place in a hot air balloon commandeered by the Chums of Chance en route to the (soon to be burned to the ground) chicago world's fair.
pathways - lines - make your mark.
but the story, or the job, isn't solely focused on a line dividing pennsylvania and maryland. it's a story about people, and as it often happens in pynchon, there is a concern as to how the characters navigate the invisible line (force) of capitalism - who files on the left? who files on the right? or how greed distorts our persona, our humanity ... how systems stemming from capital might incite a revolution. the novel often wonders aloud, emerging from the mouths of our protagonists: "What are we doing Here?"
also, a remarkable allegiance to research. history, or a desire to represent what really happened, pops up on every page. i used the pynchon wiki on this reading and i was astonished daily to discover how much "accurate" history is represented in these 773 pages.
our narrator also tells us that, "Who claims Truth, Truth abandons. History is hir'd, or coerc'd, only in Interests that must ever prove base. She is too innocent to be left within the reach of anyone in Power,- who need but touch her, and all her Credit is in the instant vanish'd, as if it had never been. She needs rather to be tended lovingly and honorably by fabulists and counterfeiters, Ballad-Mongers and Cranks of ev'ry Radius, Masters of Disguise to provide her the Costume, Toilette, and Bearing, and Speech nimble enough to keep her beyond the Desires, or even the Curiosity, of Government."
(... like i said re: acid trip, etc.)
and so our narrator, one reverend wicks cherrycoke, admits, when pressed by the children and adults listening to the story we are reading, that he may not have been present at some of the proceedings, but, "that's how it would have had to have happened".
the book is indeed a kind of historical document, but pynchon isn't interested in cutting and pasting his research. he is possessed by imagination, and anyone who has read him knows this is where the stakes are raised. pynchon floats just above a tightrope of reality and hallucination, and challenges us to determine which is which. at other times we catch him merely inspiring us to laugh.
and so we are presented with a talking dog, a talking mechanical duck who flirts and longs to have an amorous partner (setting her sights on a french chef until the right duck comes along), the electric current of a giant eel stored in a stolen bathtub is used to determine true north. we meet a snake who could talk if it wanted to, but has learned that if you speak, the humans are just going to make a spectacle of you and you'll spend the rest of your days in a circus.
or we are invited to sit on the porch with general george washington, his african-born foreman, and our leading lads while they smoke pipe-loads of hemp and discuss politics, and no one flinches when the foreman's perspectives contradict or oppose the general's. then martha washington joins, having smelled the hemp-smoke, with some tea and freshly fried fritters and donuts to put the kabash on their munchies.
or we return to slavery, oppression, and religion - those who sell the bodies of africans, or receive payment for what might be considered as labor, are on hand to bring us back to these earthly concerns on which the vaulted heavens are a reflection.
mason and dixon are strange companions. their differences threaten to drive them apart but they cannot separate for long. mason is melancholic, longs to be reunited with his wife, who has passed away a few years before our story begins. he desires induction in the society of royal astronomers, but is thwarted by a certain mr maskelyne, who may be the scarsdale vibe (ATD) of M&D. dixon is ... earthy, curious, a quaker who will not abide with cruelty or the absence of liberty. he is not easily weighed down by circumstance. his levity encourages us to ascend while mason's regrets bring us back to earth.
as our crew considers the land, we readers are encouraged to question whether or not giants walked this earth before us. evidence appears to support such a notion. mr dixon, being a believer of the "hollow earth" theory, is taken on a tour of a place beneath the surface of our planet (predictions of AGAINST THE DAY).
in contrast, in response to a discussion where mr mason dismisses the notion of giants with one of the many native americans who populate the narrative, a mohawk speaks his truth:
"Listen to me, Defecates-with-Pigeons. Long before any of you came here, we dream'd of you. All the people, even Nations far to the South and the West, dreamt you before we ever saw you, - we believ'd that you came from another World, or the Sky. You had Powers and we respected them. Yet you never dream'd of us, and when at last you saw us, wish'd only to destroy us. Then the killing started, - some of you, some of us, - but not nearly as many as we'd been expecting. You could not be the Giants of long ago, who would simply have wip'd us away, and for less. Instead, you sold us your Powers, - your Rifles, - as if encouraging us to shoot at you, - and so we did, tho' not hitting as many of you, as you were expecting. Now you begin to believe that we have come from elsewhere, possessing Powers you do not ... Those of us who knew how, have fled into Refuge in your Dreams, at last. Tho' we now pursue real lives no different at their Hearts from yours, we are also your Dreams."
but enough of summaries.
i don't know if i've inspired you to read this magnificent book, but that was my desire. to share a bit of a "you gotta see this!" kind of thing. the language, which calls upon 18th century bards, intellectuals, and plain folk, is constantly shifting. it will leave you in the dust if you're not paying attention. like the big ideas expressed by james joyce, as anthony burgess put it: "the real wisdom is in round, dublin terms" .... the truths, if there are such things in pynchon's universe, may just emerge from the mouth of a terrier.
impossible to write about. seems like pynchon knows all the words and how to make them do all the things. there's also something in pynchon that defies re-telling. there is a constant shifting of comprehension. i hate to use drugs as a metaphor, but you know that moment when you're under the influence and you think you've figured it all out but then the next day when you wake up you're right back to knowing nothing? this is that. any grasp or foothold in the text is temporary. pynchon's narrative transitions can resemble a house of mirrors.
how did i get here?
it's daunting to sum this thing and a summary seems futile. you can't do this book justice.
but a friend said, a book wants you to boast about it. it can't boast, it can only give itself to you.
in this case you must also give yourself to the book, because some books change the way you read. this book makes demands and if you rise to them, you will be rewarded. i have wanted to re-read this book for .... 15 years? but i would start and get thrown off the trail. i was lucky this summer to have the time to slow down and settle in. i'm so glad that i did. what a gift, this book. this history lesson gone giddy. this living folkloric creature gone bezerk.
another friend said this book is one of the loveliest gifts an artist has ever given to us.
i'll second that.
another friend and i have been having a conversation about what books give us, or what we get from books. the important thing i get from books, especially a book like this, is that it proves that novels (or non-fiction texts) don't have to behave a certain way. a book can do whatever it wants and that inspires me to be myself. i don't have to behave the way others do. i can carve my own path. this book is like no other, it's not even like other thomas pynchon books.
the big books that pynchon has written chart a course across the face of the planet.
AGAINST THE DAY charts many paths - the traverse family (mostly) scatter around the globe after their father has been assassinated.
V. "roams all over the map".
MASON & DIXON charts simultaneous paths. astronomer charles mason uses the stars to navigate positions on the ground. jeremiah dixon takes that information and creates cartography. he maps the world by referring to the structure of the cosmos. and so the phrase "as above, so below" appears throughout the book. draw your own conclusions as to how pynchon might use this to chart the activities of dutch colonialists in south africa, in measuring colonialists in the so called new world as they prepare to rid the colonies of british rule, or as a way of charting a line between north (wage workers) and south (slave workers).
so, pathways
we remember the opening of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW: "A screaming comes across the sky"
the opening of MASON & DIXON: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs"
and that the opening of AGAINST THE DAY takes place in a hot air balloon commandeered by the Chums of Chance en route to the (soon to be burned to the ground) chicago world's fair.
pathways - lines - make your mark.
but the story, or the job, isn't solely focused on a line dividing pennsylvania and maryland. it's a story about people, and as it often happens in pynchon, there is a concern as to how the characters navigate the invisible line (force) of capitalism - who files on the left? who files on the right? or how greed distorts our persona, our humanity ... how systems stemming from capital might incite a revolution. the novel often wonders aloud, emerging from the mouths of our protagonists: "What are we doing Here?"
also, a remarkable allegiance to research. history, or a desire to represent what really happened, pops up on every page. i used the pynchon wiki on this reading and i was astonished daily to discover how much "accurate" history is represented in these 773 pages.
our narrator also tells us that, "Who claims Truth, Truth abandons. History is hir'd, or coerc'd, only in Interests that must ever prove base. She is too innocent to be left within the reach of anyone in Power,- who need but touch her, and all her Credit is in the instant vanish'd, as if it had never been. She needs rather to be tended lovingly and honorably by fabulists and counterfeiters, Ballad-Mongers and Cranks of ev'ry Radius, Masters of Disguise to provide her the Costume, Toilette, and Bearing, and Speech nimble enough to keep her beyond the Desires, or even the Curiosity, of Government."
(... like i said re: acid trip, etc.)
and so our narrator, one reverend wicks cherrycoke, admits, when pressed by the children and adults listening to the story we are reading, that he may not have been present at some of the proceedings, but, "that's how it would have had to have happened".
the book is indeed a kind of historical document, but pynchon isn't interested in cutting and pasting his research. he is possessed by imagination, and anyone who has read him knows this is where the stakes are raised. pynchon floats just above a tightrope of reality and hallucination, and challenges us to determine which is which. at other times we catch him merely inspiring us to laugh.
and so we are presented with a talking dog, a talking mechanical duck who flirts and longs to have an amorous partner (setting her sights on a french chef until the right duck comes along), the electric current of a giant eel stored in a stolen bathtub is used to determine true north. we meet a snake who could talk if it wanted to, but has learned that if you speak, the humans are just going to make a spectacle of you and you'll spend the rest of your days in a circus.
or we are invited to sit on the porch with general george washington, his african-born foreman, and our leading lads while they smoke pipe-loads of hemp and discuss politics, and no one flinches when the foreman's perspectives contradict or oppose the general's. then martha washington joins, having smelled the hemp-smoke, with some tea and freshly fried fritters and donuts to put the kabash on their munchies.
or we return to slavery, oppression, and religion - those who sell the bodies of africans, or receive payment for what might be considered as labor, are on hand to bring us back to these earthly concerns on which the vaulted heavens are a reflection.
mason and dixon are strange companions. their differences threaten to drive them apart but they cannot separate for long. mason is melancholic, longs to be reunited with his wife, who has passed away a few years before our story begins. he desires induction in the society of royal astronomers, but is thwarted by a certain mr maskelyne, who may be the scarsdale vibe (ATD) of M&D. dixon is ... earthy, curious, a quaker who will not abide with cruelty or the absence of liberty. he is not easily weighed down by circumstance. his levity encourages us to ascend while mason's regrets bring us back to earth.
as our crew considers the land, we readers are encouraged to question whether or not giants walked this earth before us. evidence appears to support such a notion. mr dixon, being a believer of the "hollow earth" theory, is taken on a tour of a place beneath the surface of our planet (predictions of AGAINST THE DAY).
in contrast, in response to a discussion where mr mason dismisses the notion of giants with one of the many native americans who populate the narrative, a mohawk speaks his truth:
"Listen to me, Defecates-with-Pigeons. Long before any of you came here, we dream'd of you. All the people, even Nations far to the South and the West, dreamt you before we ever saw you, - we believ'd that you came from another World, or the Sky. You had Powers and we respected them. Yet you never dream'd of us, and when at last you saw us, wish'd only to destroy us. Then the killing started, - some of you, some of us, - but not nearly as many as we'd been expecting. You could not be the Giants of long ago, who would simply have wip'd us away, and for less. Instead, you sold us your Powers, - your Rifles, - as if encouraging us to shoot at you, - and so we did, tho' not hitting as many of you, as you were expecting. Now you begin to believe that we have come from elsewhere, possessing Powers you do not ... Those of us who knew how, have fled into Refuge in your Dreams, at last. Tho' we now pursue real lives no different at their Hearts from yours, we are also your Dreams."
but enough of summaries.
i don't know if i've inspired you to read this magnificent book, but that was my desire. to share a bit of a "you gotta see this!" kind of thing. the language, which calls upon 18th century bards, intellectuals, and plain folk, is constantly shifting. it will leave you in the dust if you're not paying attention. like the big ideas expressed by james joyce, as anthony burgess put it: "the real wisdom is in round, dublin terms" .... the truths, if there are such things in pynchon's universe, may just emerge from the mouth of a terrier.
Nothing I could say about this could do it justice, but: the quality of writing is astronomical, with page after page of some of the best sentences I've ever read: Pynchon is at his best here. The book literally made me keel over with laughter and then moved me to tears within four pages. It demands reading aloud, to someone who'll put up with your doing so. It takes time to get through it, but it deserves that the time more than most other things I've read.