MMiV and Allusion Dogs Pt 1

[John Bailey]

Mortality and Mercy in Vienna is, in my opinion, bogged down by allusion. 
The story is a mess of intertextual references which, rather than bolstering 
the tale’s strengths, instead undermine them. This is one of Pynchon’s 
earliest works, and I don’t think that it’s over-critical to suggest that it 
sure aint his strongest. I’m listing a bunch of these references below: feel 
free to add to them, and I might do the same if I get time over the week. 
It’s also by no means a necessarily important way of approaching this story, 
but I think it does indicate Pynchon’s frame of mind at the time, or at 
least what sort of ideas about writing he was working with.

In MMiV, Pynchon doesn’t seem to have developed the knack for the 
exponentially-expanding levels of meaning and allusiveness that we would 
normally associate with his works. Instead, a lot of his allusions seem to 
be there simply to “make it literary”. They feel like name-dropping, posing, 
like wearing badges to indicate the breadth of his learning. This isn’t the 
whole story, but I’d be interested to know if anyone else gets tired of the 
kinds of references which occur in this story (eg “‘It is the seed of your 
destruction,’ he would murmur. “House divided against itself? You know.”) 
Where quite a few new readers of Pynchon get annoyed at the amount of stuff 
which you just don’t ‘get’ on first reading (and others enjoy precisely 
this), some of the allusions listed below don’t seem to be very embryonic 
indicators of Pynchon’s later strengths in this department. Agree? Disagree? 
I’d like to know.

To begin: I tend to think that the overall tone of the story reflects 
Pynchon’s professed favour for Fitzgerald, as well as some Chandler (but 
that could just be me), Conrad and perhaps John Buchan-style spy and pulp 
stories. I’m not so familiar with these latter; anyone moreso should feel 
free to help out. Speaking of which…

“…gaunt and looking a little like a John Buchan hero even at thirteen…” A 
typical statement from a Buchan hero comes from his most famous creation, 
Richard Hannay: “I know what it is to feel lonely and helpless and to have 
the whole world against me, and those are things that no men or women ought 
to feel.” A great bio of the writer can be found at 
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/buchan.htm (great site, too, actually).

“…Rachel…whose neck was pale and sleep, a Mondigliani neck…” Mondigliani’s 
painting did indeed feature long necks as a defining feature. Bio at the 
Artchive (www.artchive.com), scroll down the list of artists on the left 
side. I won’t post a gallery but there’s a fine one at 
http://www.mystudios.com/gallery/modigliani/gallery_wall.html

“…ended up refuting Aquinas and quitting the Roman church…” Refuting 
Aquinas’ five ways of proving that God exists, I’m assuming. I won’t 
summa-rise (let alone refute): http://www.newadvent.org/summa/100203.htm

“…his roommate at college sophomore year had called him Stephen…” A 
gratuitous Ulysses reference which reads rather painfully now (imho).

“House divided against itself? You know.” From Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 speech 
(reproduced at 
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/house.htm) 
concerning slavery and the US. Fairly ugly employment of such a reference, 
though Grossmann is hardly portrayed in a positive light.


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