maps in V. and Vineland?

[jbor at bigpond.com]

I think the debate over the Vinland map has swung back to the "fake" 
side. The Vikings didn't make maps, the Italian guy who "discovered" it 
and sold it on was a notorious antique book huckster, and I think the 
most recent forensic investigations discovered that someone had merely 
traced over the black outline with a yellow texta or somesuch. 
Apparently Yale Library doesn't even have it on display any more - it's 
tucked away in a basement, and they seem a little bit embarrassed about 
the whole episode. Of course, the archaeological site in Newfoundland 
is legit, and the documentation of the settlement of the Greenlanders 
in North America which Pynchon refers to in _M&D_ is accurate. But, 
yes, the _Vineland_ title and the novel's themes do connect to the 
Vinland story, if not the map.

Pynchon's interest in the cartographic imagination goes way beyond 
Western conventions, and there's Vheissu in _V._ and the Native 
American conception of the layout of the land in _Vineland_, and 
various maps in _Lot 49_ also (one in 'TSI' too, if I remember 
correctly), but _M&D_ is the novel where cartography per se is most 
prominent (of course).

best

On 23/05/2005, at 9:59 PM, severs at fas.harvard.edu wrote:

> I for one have often wondered whether the fake (?) Vinland map 
> controversy (at
> Yale? in the 60s?) had anything to do with Pynchon's choice of titles 
> (and
> themes) for that novel.  Anyone?
>
>
> Quoting Geoff Stacks <gstacks at purdue.edu>:
>
>> I'm very interested in Pynchon's use of maps. Of course, I've read M&D
>> carefully, and I'm familiar with Slothrop's map in GR. But are there
>> mentions of maps or mapmaking in his other work? I haven't gotten to 
>> V. or
>> Vineland yet, and I thought I'd check with you guys to see if you had 
>> any
>> ideas.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>