Cavitch: Remembering George Washington

[jbor at bigpond.com]

"Pynchon's scene has its basis in fact: Washington did grow hemp at 
Mount Vernon, whence it was sold to rope and textile makers. For the 
license he took, Pynchon could have found inspiration in Alfred 
Quiroz's 1994 painting, 'George Washington Inspects the Hemp Crop', in 
which Washington shares a toke with two merry companions." (FN, p. 270)

Not sure whether it was "license" or just a safe bet on Pynchon's part. 
Cavitch's assessment of Pynchon's characterisation of GW is apt.

best

On 24/07/2005, at 8:48 AM, jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> 'The Man That Was Used Up: Poetry, Particularity, and the Politics of 
> Remembering George Washington' by Max Cavitch
> _American Literature_ 75.2, June 2003, pp. 247-274.
> 	
> Abstract: Focuses on the contribution of US President George 
> Washington to American literature. Symbolism on national cultural 
> process of postrepublican transformation; disembodiment of political 
> power in modern nationalism; conceptualisation of political tradition 
> interposes itself between citizen-subject and their self-actualizing 
> polities.
>
> Excerpts:
> "[...] As contributors to this ongoing work of remembrance, writers of 
> fiction, like so many historians, biographers, and exhibit curators, 
> have sought to portray a Washington more personally compelling than 
> the abstract or monumental figure he commonly strikes; a Washington 
> not yet purged of singularity; a Washington of depth, interiority, 
> even edginess. For example, at one point in Thomas Pynchon's novel, 
> _Mason & Dixon_ ... " (p. 248)
>
> Pdf available.