MDMD(7) Plot Summary

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Here it is foax, with the notes and questions to follow. Commentary is
slightly delayed and may well be posted tomorrow morning. Apologies
etc.

n.b. HTML versions of these opening notes are available under

    http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~andrew/pynchon-mdmd.html

Look at the bottom under the resources section.


Andrew Dinn
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How do you know but ev'ry bird that cuts the airy way
Is an immense world of pleasure clos'd by your senses five
----- 8< -------- 8< -------- 8< -------- 8< -------- 8< -------- 8< ---
MDMD(7) Plot Summary

Chapter 20

Summer of '63 and Charles visits his boys, Dr Isaac and William, who
are living with his sister Hester in Gloucestershire. Having met and
tentatively re-established familiarity with them he proceeds into the
hopuse where he encounters Delicia Quail, a neighbour on a manhunt,
whom he resists with a mixture of evasion and irony. Charles reveals
that more astronomical work is in the offing, this time in
America. hester is horrified, the boys thrilled, but Hester's husband,
Elroy, draws Charles aside to negotiate either signing the boys over
to his charge or agreeing that they be apprenticed to Charles' father
at the mill, Elroy, a lawyer, acting for Mawson's father in this
request.  The boys current residence with Hester is revealed as a
hasty arrangement entered into immediately after Rebekah's
funeral. Charles confesses to his sister Ann how distant the boys
appear, a theme which is evidenced earlier in as Charles' interaction
with the boys and reprised in the next scene when Charles encounters
his father, Charles Snr.

Charles fearing he will receive a lesson in his own failings, visits his
father to negotiate over the boys but discussion of the apprenticeship
deal is avoided by ambiguous remarks from his father which only serve
to confuse and worry Charles more. Charles's father reveals prior
knowledge of the American job and makes pointed comments about Sam
Peach's treatment of Charles, leading to the sharp dismissal of his son
that Charles expected all along.

The relation between Charles and his father is revealed through a
flashback to Charles' youth when he was apprenticed to the baker's
trade (no real indication if this is intended to be Charles' reverie
or just a plain narrative time switch by the Rev^d Wicks/TRP). Charles
Snr tries to communicate to his son the miracle of bread rising and
baking but the more he sees beauty and divine working, the more his
son sees mystery and ghosts, mostly thanks to a conflation of the
baking process with Christ's crucifixion, courtesy of the miracle of
transsubstantiation. The chapter ends with a hypothetical dialogue
expressing what Charles Snr would have said to Charles the apprentice,
if only they had been able to communicate to each other, a piece of
surmise on the part of TRP, if not the Rev^d Wicks.

Chapter 21

Remaining in the time frame of the flashback, the chapter sets the
scene with a discussion of the cultural and spiritual displacement
effected by the arrival of industrialization in the Stroud locale (and
in particular it's reduction of culture and spirit to monetary
terms). The young Charles reflects on his need ot escape willage life
and turns his thoughts to Rebekah, calling him back home. Charles is
falling in love, and it is too late for him to do anything other than
wonder over Rebekah's behaviour, character and history. Another
hypothetical dialogue between father and son is presented in which his
father warns him against Rebekah and Sam Peach (this may be in
Charles' head or just TRP playing tricks with us - all very
subjunctive!).

We flashback to 1760(?), with Charles and Rebekah picknicking. Charles
suggests a trip to Sumatra, getting away from Bradley to improve his
position should Bradley die. Rebekah remarks upon the politicking
involved, making Charles aware of his own disgruntlement with his
position. We slip forward to a later conversation with Dixon (possibly
later than the current chapter time frame of Charles's visit) where
Charles recalls a ride to Stonehenge with Rebekah arriving on
Midsummer's night eve. Charles, joking about Druids, reveals his
thoughts of marrying Rebekah and with her equally light-hearted but
serious response they both recognise the exchange as a commitment, a
proposal and acceptance of sorts. We progress to the couple's arrival
at the Observatory in Greenwich, with Rebekah watching Susannah Peach
and Bradley across the courtyard and a question as to whether this is
mere curiosity or keeping an eye on Charles.

Charles returns from his father, apparently with nothing settled, to
Hester's house where we meet him with the boys again. Dr Isaac asks
whether he is going to join Rebekah and Charles has to bite his tongue
and play a game to avoid the question. He leaves them promising, as he
always does, to return but this time he is off to London and thence
America.

In London, the gossip is that Charles is Maskelyne's man. However,
Charles feels he has been bundled off to America and thereby relegated
to his minor role in the scheme of things (reduc'd to Certainty,
perhaps), making contact with Maskelyne a painful penance. They meet
in Maskelyne's brother Edmund's rooms with Lalande, the famous young
French astronomer and Edmund (who has just met another famous
astronomer, Herschel). Mun and Lalande intend to go out on the town to
Drury Lane (the location of the West End theatres and associated
low-life like actresses and such) and Mason suddenly finds himself in
the press of a crowd in an area of London he does not know. Losing
sight of Edmund he makes his own way home, with a dislocated feeling
as though he has already been transported to America.

Chapter 22

Father Christopher LeMaire S.J. is introduced and awaits Dixon in the
parlour of Dixon's old tutor, Emerson, in Hurworth-upon-Tees, County
Durham. Emerson is then introduced, including mention of his skill in
Mesmerism.

We switch to the framing narrative and Cousin DePugh discusses taking
up Mesmerism as a business with Ethelmer and Brae. Brae's suggestion
that he eschew business with Philadelphians is reproved by her father,
with a quote from Timothy Tox' Pennsylvaniad, and the Rev^d, Uncle
Ives and Ethelmer proceed to discuss the morality of American business
to which the others contribute clever remarks.

We return to Emerson in Hurworth and an account (perhaps Emerson's
reverie) of one of his educational field trips to identify old Roman
roads and ruins and the Ley Lines along which they seem to
congregate. We move forward to a later conversation where Charles
recounts to Dixon a story of Ley Lines in Gloucester and Dixon refers
to flying along the lines, general speculation about which originally
led us into the story of the field trip. The details of the trip and
the Mithraic (and earlier) significance of the ruins found along the
lines are related. Emerson's fascination with nature and understanding
of science are presented as unarguable evidence for God, and not the
best of all possible Gods either. We switch to another reverie when
Emerson learns of Dixon's ntention to become a surveyor and considers
the astrological misfit this profession will imply.

Emerson dismisses Dixon's small ambition and we realise this was their
last meeting before the scene on which we entered, as we return to Le
Maire and Emerson, now joined by Dixon in the parlour. They are
discussing Fr Boscovich's poem on the measurement of two degrees of
latitude in Italy. LeMaire reveals that Br Ruggiero wishes to measure
a degree of latitude in America. Emerson suggests the Jesuits'
interest in astornomy implies a desire to colonise China. LeMaire
suggests that China is merely a refuge for the Jesuits from
persecution.  Emerson jokes on the Jesuit's ability to reconcile
transcendent devotion with criminal actions and LeMaire comes clean
and gets down to business, inviting Dixon to a life of adventure in
the Jesuits, bursting into a lively recruiting song, with only
incidental mention of the No Fucking clause and an appeal to the
Martial spirit he presumes lies beneath Dixon's Quaker skin. LeMaire
adverts to the story of Sir henry Vane and an argument ensueswhich can
only be resolved (fat chance) by removing to Emerson's local, the
Cudgel and Throck, LeMaire, of necessity , disguising himself as
Ambrose, Emerson's distant cousin, for fear of anti-Jesuit sentiment.