pynchon-l-digest V1 #721

[kellner at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu]

Peter Applebome writes:

    I even make reference to Pynchon and M&D in passing in an afterward
I wrote for the paperback due out in the fall about how, in the end, the
Mason-Dixon Line, north and south, old and new, religious and secular, etc
etc still remains the dividing line in American culture, which is partly,
I think what Pynchon was getting at...

Peter Applebome 
*********

Well, I just finished M&D, agree with those who admire it as one of
Pynch's best, suggest a fast read for those having trouble getting in it,
and then going back for more leisurely meanderings....
BUT I wonder if Pynch really illuminates the North/South Mason/Dixon
divide in any profound way? Certainly, boundaries and contrasts are a
major thrust of the work (eg reason and its other, 'civilization' and its
other, black and white, the characters of Mason and Dixon and so on....
But I didn't find any particularly illuminating depictions, or can't
recall any right now, of the US North and South divide. So while I think
it is very good on the Enlightenment and its other, colonization, race,
and many many other things I was a bit disappointed by failure to really
engage the great North/South divide in US history.... Or did I miss
something(s)??

 Douglas Kellner, Dept of Philosophy, Univ of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
kellner at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu  fax: 512 471-4806
Web sites: Postmodern theory= http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~kellner/pm/pm.html
Critical theory= http://www.uta.edu/english/dab/illuminations/