P & Ellison

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Al X,

I am not aware of any essays on this subject, but the notion that
African-Americans are "invisible" in a racist white society is important in
"Mason & Dixon". Pynchon certainly is familiar with Ellison's novel, and as far
as the representation of black people in M&D is concerned I'd say there
definitely is an influence.

This reminds me of the passage in GR where the narrator, who seems to be rather
close to the author at this point, tells the reader that Ishmael Reed knows a
lot more about a certain topic than he does. One of P's sources for GR is "The
Autobiography of Malcolm X". Perhaps a close reading would reveal that there is
some kind of dialogue with African-American literature going on in his works.
This seems to be related to the discussion about the Watts-Essay and Mclintic
Sphere and the development of Pynchon's attitude towards African-American
culture in general.

Thomas