MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[Doug Millison]

--- s~Z

> Saying that the
> italics 'communicate
> that action' is a little too strong, but when I read
> the passage and
> visualize a lash of the whip with each italicized
> word, the content of the
> verbalizations combined with the visual image mesh
> very well. 

That's the reader's visualization ("writing"), filling
in a blank the author left empty.  

>Then, when the
> knowledge we have from the historical record is
> added to the mix, it doesn't
> prove anything (as TRP may be altering history for
> artistic purposes as you
> suggest), but it supports this reading. In my
> reading, Dixon punched and
> whipped the guy, and wanted to kill him. The
> restraint that is in the text
> is restraint from murder, not restraint from
> punching and whipping.

Maybe, maybe not, maybe both/and.

Pynchon does restrain himself, refraining from writing
a scene in which he shows Dixon using the whip, that's
for sure, imo.  I think this reading strays too far
from what Pynchon has written, relies too much on
reader-added elements, and works against many other
textual cues in this episode (I pointed to some of
them in previous posts) -- and it seems tailored to
support a particular reader's preconceived notion of
what Dixon would do in this situation ( as much if not
moe so than others have said I'm doing in reading a
Dixon who restrains himself here).  But there's
nothing to prevent a reader from imagining that's what
"really" (in this fictional setting) happens, of
course not.

=====
<http://www.pynchonoid.blogspot.com/>
<http://www.dougday.blogspot.com/>
<http://www.online-journalist.com/index.html>

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