maps in V. and Vineland?

[Ghetta Life]

>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).

Pynchon's interest in cartography is related to his interest in "mapping" in 
all its forms.  The most prominent of these mappings in his work would be 
Slothop's map, and specifically the question of its significance.  Phenomena 
are sifted through a recording system, producing a map, something readable, 
but once-removed from its source.  In Gravity's Rainbow such recordings are 
called "pornographies" and "fetishes."

Ghetta

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