MDDM Ch. 5: There was this Jesuit...

[jbor]

on 4/10/01 11:07 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> I think it worth our time to identify the names that Pynchon is tossing
> into the tale. 
> 
> The Jesuit "Father Bascovich"  MD.44
> 
> Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich
> 
> 
> A Dalmatian Jesuit and well-known mathematician, astronomer, and natural
> philosopher, b. at Ragusa, 18 May 1711; d. at Milan, 13 February, 1787.
> 
> http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02691a.htm
> 

Thanks for the excellent link. But is it really the fact that he was a
Jesuit which is the most important thing here? I think in the context the
reason his name is mentioned by Mason is because he was a leading and
universally-respected astronomer who was at the forefront of the
pan-European scientific preparations for the observations of the Transit of
Venus in 1761. He'd obviously just been in London, was on his way back
across Europe "in the company of the Venetian ambassador", knew the true
purpose of the *Seahorse* expedition, and was also welcome at the French
court of Louis XV, so that's why Mason mentions him.

I suspect that Pynchon's interest in the biographies of mathematicians (cf.
the next novel) made him aware of Father Boscovich ("young Boscovich
discovered for himself the proof of the theorem of Pythagoras"), and that's
how the name comes to be slipped in here.
 
I don't mean to downplay the possibilities for religious interpretation, but
in this case I don't think there's that much to it. (A little "devil's
advocacy" does no harm, eh?) But I agree that the historical detail being
referenced in the text needs to be noted. The main backdrop to the opening
section of the tale is the Seven Years War, of course: the Battle at
Quiberon Boy has been explicitly mentioned three times so far, while the
actual stopover of the *Seahorse* at Tenerife passes by totally unnoticed.
Ultimately, it is Pynchon's choice as to what Wicks does and does not
narrate, and what is foregrounded within that narration.
 
> PS MD43 Dixon says, "Quakers are a bit matier."
> 
> What is "matier" ?

As James noted, it is the comparative adjective from "mate", which is a
colloquial synonym for "friend", and thus there is a pun on Quakers being
known as the Society of Friends.

best