A Historical Novel of a New Sort

[Keith McMullen]

 >>> In other words, those of us "dense" enough
argue that it is not Pynchon's duty, nor even his business, to include 
historical
events that even the most dense will admit are entirely abhorrent, but 
that what makes
Pynchon a great novelist is that novels like Gravity's Rainbow and 
Mason & Dixon are driven by
some of the crucial tensions, ambivalances, and contradictions that 
tore America and Europe apart
twice and threaten to tear the worls apart still. <<<

More accurately his works reflect the *intolerance* of the tensions, 
ambivalences, and contradictions.....and the world-tearing results of 
resolving these tensions by grabbing one's pole.