Mason and Dixon

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

I know, I really was an ass to write what I wrote about
Wood's book. I don't think his essay is much help with this
topic. What do you think of his DeLillo essay? Or others? I
actually like some things his says about Melville,
surprised? I think TRP has big shoes to fill if he has
indeed inherited HM's Estate, but I think he wears them
well. 

TF

Paul Mackin wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 18 Oct 1999, Dangermouse wrote:
> 
> > To all,
> >       I am embarking on a thesis paper concering Mason and Dixon. I want
> > to use the novel as a example of a novel that defends the narrative form
> > against corruption from computer technologies, the internet and eventual
> > cyber-narratives. So, the idea is a little rough and convoluted, but I do
> > believe TRP has some of the latest technologies in his mind as he writes
> > this opus. My query is thus: if you know of any excellent reviews or
> > essays on the text, please let me know. Or suture self. Best,
> 
> If you need a Devil's Advocate (always a good idea as old Holy Mother
> Church knows so well) look at James Wood's "Thomas Pynchon and the Problem
> of Allegory," which Terrance has mentioned several times.  Says both kind
> and unkind things about the book. Thinks P writes beautifully but that
> beatiful writing isn't enough to make a novel great. As the title of
> the piece indicates Wood doesn't like a lot of meaning in novels. Seems to
> consider P's political ideas a bit ordinary. Furthermore says M and D's
> "blotterlike receptivity to every bloodstain of American capitalism
> seems a little convenient, artistically. They might be freeer as
> characters if Pynchon allowed them to put up some resistance to Pynchon's
> view of things. But that would be fiction, not allegory." Wood hated the
> Washington/Gershom episode.
> 
> What ya gonna do???
> 
>                         P.