A simple Pynchon:Gaddis anal-o[r]gy

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

R. ed Bug writes:
> I personally find it has breathtaking depth and humanity, a complexity of
> structure only now beginning to come into focus, and I think it's
> hilarious in extreme.

As with much of Pynchon's other writing Mason & Dixon is easy to
misread. The depth and humanity, the complex structure which can be
found in Pynchon at his best come from only one thing, a mastery of
the written form. I see no evidence that Pynchon has lost any of his
skill as a writer. Mason & Dixon uses the most complex and ingenious
technical twists without betraying the simple and straightforward
telling of its story. Like Tristram Shandy it digresses repeatedly yet
always makes progress. And Tim forgot to mention it is also movingly
poetic. Pynchon still has a fine turn of phrase.

As to humour, I don't really see Mason and Dixon as a *comic* novel.
To the contrary it is more like a fairy tale, a Scherezade story.
Don't be blinded by the `historical fiction' tag. Imagine if Mason &
Dixon never really existed, that they were only characters in this
book with no predefined `history'. How would you classify it then? I
am reminded of someone like Garcia Marquez, not so much because of
style or technique but because of what the author chooses to address
and report in order both to build a world around these two figures and
at the same time dissect and expose them in relation to this world.

Not only did I enjoy reading Mason & Dixon I am going to keep on
enjoying it like a port wine that drinks better and better as it gets
older (and as I do likewise). Just like Gravity's Rainbow. Just like
The Recognitions and A Frolic of His Own. And all those other great
novels. I don't care to rank them. Too busy with the pleasure of
rereading.


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