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shubha ghosh sghosh at lec.okcu.edu
Sat Sep 6 13:30:10 CDT 1997


Thought people might be interested in the following, a proposal for the Rome
Pynchon conference.  All comments welcome.



INTELLECTUAL, REAL, AND IMAGINARY PROPERTY:
LAW AND NARRATIVE IN
 PYNCHON'S THE CRYING OF LOT 49 AND MASON & DIXON

Shubha Ghosh
Assistant Professor of Law
Oklahoma City University
ABSTRACT


	Pynchon's writings have represented the intersection of science and
literature, the worlds of objective analysis and subjective perspective
respectively.    Through his body of work, Pynchon has distilled the Snovian
distinction, deconstructed brilliantly in "Is It OK To Be a Luddite?,"
into a critique of American politics.  It should be no surprise then that as
American culture has become more legalistic so has Pynchon's domain.    My
paper analyzes Pynchon's dissection of legal culture in Mason & Dixon and
shows that Pynchon's critique has its roots in The Crying of Lot 49.
	The American publishing landscape is glutted with the legal thriller.
These works depict the glamor and pitfalls of the American legal profession
usually through a narrative relating to a criminal case involving murder,
fraud, or deceit.   The protagonist is  young, headstrong, and seemingly
invincible to the terrors of the legal process and usually descends into an
often contrived situation that challenges his or her convictions as well as
those of the reader.     Of course all works out in the end: order is
restored and all moral ambiguities resolved.
	Mason & Dixon is Pynchon's parody of the contemporary legal thriller.
Although Vineland was labeled a thriller, Mason & Dixon ironically as a
historical novel has more of the characteristics of pop legal fiction.
The two protagonists are ostensibly tossed into pre-Colonial America to
solve a legal dispute.  Their tools are not pleadings and briefs but
telescopes and sites.  Pynchon is depicting a society in which science, in
its narrowest technical sense, is used to settle disputes.  But technical
solutions have unintended consequences and are sought by unidentified
principals.   Like Mason and Dixon, the contemporary lawyer often can rely
solely on technique to settle conflicts that have deep political, ethical,
and moral roots.    More often than not, the contemporary lawyer is the
agent of an unidentified or unknowable principal.   The musings of Mason and
Dixon on who ultimately benefits from their travails reflects the moral
uncertainty of the lawyer.    Finally, the angst of Mason and the moral
passion of Dixon represent two sides of the contemporary lawyer's
personality, torn between rational action and emotional convictions.
	All of these themes have their roots in The Crying of Lot 49 in which
Oedipa in one character embodies the Janus like figure of Mason & Dixon.
Oedipa too is confronted with a legal dispute, the execution of Pierce's
estate, and she too is baffled by  questions of meaning and agency.   Like
Mason & Dixon, Oedipa is thrown in the midst of legal culture and must
maneuver in the American labyrinth of science, law, and politics.    Unlike
Mason & Dixon, she is unable to sort out the American estate into any order,
but anarchy is perhaps the best anyone can do.   Mason & Dixon's order, as
Dixon bemoans, becomes the seed of future chaos racial, cultural, and
geographic.   Just as The Crying of Lot 49 is a precursor of many of the
themes in Mason & Dixon, so are Mason & Dixon, the characters and historical
figures, the sowers of Oedipa's America.
	My paper will elaborate these themes by careful textual analyses of both
novels.  I will focus especially on Chapter 59 of Mason & Dixon which is
based on an actual legal dispute from Colonial America.  I have traced the
historical sources for Chapter 59 and will discuss how Pynchon uses actual
legal cases in his novel to develop his themes of law, science, and technique. 
	




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