MDDM: melancholy, Mason, Lolita

[Doug Millison]

>Consider that in Lolita our man suffers from
>melancholia (insanity if we must insist on that cruel
>term).  [...]

Absent the worldview in which "melancholy" means what it means for Burton
and can stand as a medical diagnosis, it doesn't seem to make much sense,
imo,  to rip this label out of the 16th century, taking it out of the
setting in which Burton develops his topic and the period it which he
publishes The Anatomy of Melancholy, and stick it to 20th century Humbert
-- and I'm not sure that adds much of anything to a reading of Pynchon.

Looking at Mason in the context of melancholy as defined by Burton might be
an interesting exercise, if for no other reason than to establish the depth
of Pynchon's research and character development. Beyond that, I'm not sure
where that takes a reader,  since "melancholy" seems to recede even beyond
Burton's reach the harder he tries to grasp it; a challenge  not foreign to
Pynchon's work, either.


>I think we can use that definition to
>create a spectrum on either side of the "true" nymphet
>(as defined by HH in Lolita)  that includes both males
>and females and apply this to Pynchon's characters.


Interesting juxtaposition, and one of, literally, thousands that can be
drawn between Pynchon's novels and other works.









<doug millison>
<http://www.Online-Journalist.com>
<http://dougday.blogspot.com>