MDDM Ch. 12 Summary & Notes

[Terrance]

Dave Monroe wrote:
> 
> No, apparently "his" (presuming you mean Pynchon's)
> legacy here consists of snide and not all-too-snappy
> one liners (like, say, this one) and kicking around
> Doug Millison.  Me, I think Pynchon is Doing Something
> with all these historical elements here.  Just what,
> I'm not quite sure yet (if I, or anyone else, ever
> will be), but you gotta do the research first in order
> to determine just where and when he's deployiong just
> what and how ...

Doing the research may tell you some things. It's certainly not 
necessary. M&D, like all Pynchon's novels, is not a research project or 
a encrypted study of history, it's funny and entertaining fiction.  
Sometimes it's stupid funny and sometimes it's too smart for its own
good. 
A lot of the research Pynchon puts into the books goes to support very
intricate
and elaborate jokes. These are usually not very funny at all, but more
like puzzles.  What's funny is the dialogue when P gets it just right. 
I think he often takes it from TV and films and plays. Pynchon packs the
pages with little known facts and lost or never recorded histories. He
includes arcane theories and formulas. He slips in strange tidbits. In
one Chapter he might parody several works of fiction or poetry. He
layers pastiche. He may include fictions, poems, films, paintings,
musical compositions, TV, comic book, letters, newspaper stories,
journals, so on and on.  He plays puns against puns. He often makes fun
of the sexual proclivities of authors or historical persons. 
In Chapter 13 of M&D it's difficult to figure out what the hell is going
on. Pynchon includes the history of relationships we know nothing about.
It's safe to assume, few if any readers of M&D have any previous
knowledge of the love affairs of Mason and Dixon and the other
historical figures fictionalized in M&D. So why does Pynchon do it? I
think it's also safe to assume that no prior knowledge of the history of
these affairs is needed or even very helpful.