MDDM Ch. 77 Dogs and dogsbodies

[jbor]

on 20/9/02 11:20 PM, Bandwraith at aol.com at Bandwraith at aol.com wrote:

> It could all be explained by dovetailing
> ambitions, why else would Boswell allow himself to be
> the butt of such joaks, but I think there is a deliberate
> reprisal, or inversion, of the Washington/Gershom act

Indeed. And what it does show up is a difference in character between SJ and
GW, both of them "masters". Boswell's friendship and loyalty to Johnson
seems much more superficial and tenuous than that of Gershom and George.

I'm not sure that Wicks has much to do with the way the scene plays out, and
I can't see that there's anything much in the actual portrayals of either
Johnson or Franklin in Pynchon's text that redeems them.

best