MDDM Chs 46-7 "The Beggar's Opera"

[Dave Monroe]

One thing I've been finding is, just about any major
work of the eighteenth century, and no end of minor
ones, is worth taking a look at here (Tristram Shandy
and Boswell's Life of Johnson alone ... and did I ever
get to Casanova's autobiography here?).  My guess is,
he did as much himself, if only simply (...) to
establish style and, er, local color.  Recommended
reading for Mason & Dixon, anyone?  Let me know ...

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> I don't think there's any hard evidence that Pynchon
> read Aristophanes' _Lysistratra_, but I agree with
> Terrance that there are resonances with the plot of
> John Gay's _The Beggar's Opera_ in the narrative of
> _M&D_.
> 
> I think one reason why Pynchon incorporates an overt
> reference to _The Beggar's Opera_ in his text is to
> acknowledge an affinity in the style or medium of
> _M&D_ (pastiche/parody), and his other works too I
> guess, with that of Gay's ballad opera, and of the
> genre of satirical musical comedy it heralded.

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