MDDM: melancholy, Mason, Lolita

[Doug Millison]

cathyramirez69 at yahoo.com:
>Are you saying that any pre-20th century
> study 
> of melancholy can not be applied to HH? 

No.  I haven't seen it done yet, and wonder how
applying Burton's work to Lolita might enrich a
reading of M&D or another Pynchon work. I agree with
you, that it's possible this exercise might yield
interesting results, so go for it and report back if
you wish.


> Didn't you argue previously that my application of
> Burton's book was preposterous because the tome is
> such an extensive study?  

No.

Besides juxtaposing the sort of understand of Burton's
work that could be gleaned from a reading of its table
of contents with some vague generalities about
Pynchon's novels, you haven't offered much to
evaluate. 

Which is not to say that The Anatomy of Melancholy is
irrelevant to a reading of Mason & Dixon, both in its
own right and as an influence on other works that seem
to inform M&D.

"But one name in eighteenth century literature is
inseperably linked with his. Sterne’s cast of mind
inclined him to reading that which was curious and
away from the common track, and he turned over The
Anatomy with a special gusto. To the literary taste of
the day, Burton was obsolete, and Sterne freely
transferred his thoughts and phrases to Tristram
Shandy. Ferriar’s list of passages is far from
exhaustive."
http://www.bartleby.com/214/1304.html



http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&idno=ACM8939.0001.001&view=toc

The claim that "Mason suffers from all the symptoms
and causes of
Melancholy that Burton describes"  remains hyperbolic.

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?sid=a85d80d669f85c1c525b03c25418a9e4&idno=acm8939.0001.001&c=moa&cc=moa&seq=85&view=image
 

(watch the url wrap, but you'll find quite a few
"symptoms and causes" on Burton's list that don't
apply very well to Mason's case -- some of them do,
but not all of them.














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