maps in V. and Vineland?

[Paul Taylor]

Anybody's thoughts on the actual usefulness of:

	"Gravity's Rainbow" Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel  
Steven Weisenburger

I've already finished reading it, and have been to a couple of the
lexical websites, but need a bit more.  Thoughts?

--PT


On 5/23/05, jbor at bigpond.com <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> 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.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
>