MDDM Ch. 51 The metonymic hat

[jbor]

Cf. also Edward Mendelson's Introduction in _Pynchon: A Collection of
Critical Essays_:

    All encyclopedic narratives ... are metonymic compendia of the data,
    both scientific and aesthetic, valued by their culture. They attempt
    to incorporate elements of all the varieties of knowledge their
    societies put to use .... All encyclopedic narratives contain, inter
    alia, theoretical accounts of the statecraft, histories of language,
    and images of their own enormous scale in the form of giants or
    gigantism ....  (pp. 9-11)

I tend to agree that Dixon is referring to George Fox in his remark upon
"the Topick of Hats" and the originator of Quakerism:

    " ... Our history as a sect having begun with a Hat that remain'd upon
    its Head,-- and mercifully the Head upon its Body,-- " (492)

best