MDDM Washington & Gershom

[Doug Millison]

jbor:
>There's a lot in Henriques' essay/talk which correlates with Pynchon's
>depiction of GW and Gersh in _M&D_:
>http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/henriques/hist615/gwslav.htm


Yes And the huge chunks you leave out undercut Pynchon's depiction of
Washington.  (I expected you would cut-and-paste the bits that support your
point, and omit the parts that support mine, as you usually do with this
sort of extra-textual material even while you whine if somebody else does
that -- that's why I pointed you to this web site.) A reader who takes the
time to compare the historical Washington with Pynchon's Washington -- as I
believe Pynchon expects his readers will do, as they seek to distinguish
the historical facts from his fiction -- will soon discover the yawning
abyss between the two, and bring P's irony into clear focus.  If Pynchon is
paying the Father of Our Nation a "compliment" with this characterization,
I suggest that it's a rather left-handed sort of compliment which has the
effect of drawing attention to the the historical Washington's  flaws and
shortcomings.  It's also amounts to a rather savage critique of people who
view Washington through rose-(and lime?)colored glasses and white out the
cruelties -- whippings, pursuit of escaped slaves, poor housing and food--
that would otherwise mar the picture of him as  "benevolent" slave owner in
the fairy tale version of US history.