Pynchon travels

[Byrnes Weir]

At 02:22 AM 8/1/97 +0300, Heikki Raudaskoski wrote:
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>This will be the first Augustan mailing to the list. (Too many 
>overripe nights of moondance awaiting us; one more eternity to be 
>lived through before astral weeks will turn us immature, again.)
>
>The Julian month is over in Finland and almost over here in Midwest 
>and I do know Caesarean people who think M&D is too idle, too slack.
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>What follows will not help them; it will touch Augustan writers.
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>Some reviewers have compared M&D to Fielding.
>
>However, the strong sense of place (which this thread is about in a way)
>is one thing that distinguishes M&D from, say, Tom Jones; the latter
>really is a comedy of manners, which takes place *between* characters. 
>The setting's not so important. 
>
>Then there is e.g. Smollett who often lets his readers wade through
>meticulously detailed places. These descriptions have usually little 
>or nothing to do with the actions of characters. (Btw, funnily, the
>"expedition" route in _Humphrey Clinker_ passes through both Gloucester
>and Durham.)
>
>In Pynchon the intensely accurate feeling of place is not detached from 
>characters' actions. Yet places are not fully integrated in actions, 
>either -- partly because they never stop being mysterious. They haunt.
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>
>Heikki
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          Well said Heikki and welcome back, the list has missed you.

                                        All the best,
                                                    Byrnes
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Charles Byrnes Weir POWERSOURCE
Toronto Canada