anyone see a Mason & Dixon resonance here?

[malignd at aol.com]

Read Leslie Fiedler's Love and Death in the American Novel for a rich 
discusision of unconsumated homoerotic love as an enduring theme in 
American fiction.  Two men lighting out across the country.  It doesn't 
begin with Pycnhon.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>; me <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, Feb 4, 2010 12:52 am
Subject: Re: anyone see a Mason & Dixon resonance here?


And don't forget the Baghavad-Gita, Huck and Nigger Jim, Batman 
andRobin, Friday and Gannon....On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 11:01 PM, Mark 
Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:>> I know two guys doing stuff in a 
novel, any fiction, must go further> back than I have ever read. 
(Iliad? NOT Genesis, but yes Gilgamesh, right?)>> Up thru many we can 
name BUT, to set de Tocqueville off with another character as they 
travel America sure seems to suggest Carey has read M & D, I'd 
say.>>>>>>>>>>>> OFF THEY GO>> Jan 28th 2010>>>>>> PARROT AND OLIVIER 
IN AMERICA. By Peter Carey. KNOPF; 452>> PAGES;>> $26.95. FABER AND 
FABER; GBP18.99. Buy from Amazon.com[1],>> Amazon.co.uk[2]>>>> 
UNIVERSALLY celebrated as a classic when it was first>> published in>> 
1835, Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America">> nevertheless>> 
suffered from long years in the shadows. The centenary of>> the 
author's>> birth in 1905 went uncelebrated. No new edition of the 
book>> appeared>> between 1913 and 1945. The best that Tocqueville got 
was>> the occasional>> reference in a learned footnote.>>>> Today 
Tocqueville is revered as never before. The>> bicentennial of his>> 
birth was the occasion for academic bacchanalias on both>> sides of 
the>> Atlantic. No fewer than four new editions of "Democracy">> have 
appeared>> in the past decade. Books on the great man pour from the>> 
printing>> presses, ranging in quality from ponderous academic tomes>> 
to Hugh>> Brogan's delightful biography.>>>> Now we have an unexpected 
addition to the Tocqueville>> renaissance: a>> fictional account of his 
visit to the United States by a>> much garlanded>> novelist. "Parrot 
and Olivier" has all the quirky qualities>> that we>> have come to 
expect from Peter Carey: a winding narrative,>> a mass of>> vivid 
historical detail, and some very lively writing.>>>> The story of 
Tocqueville's visit was an extraordinary one>> in its own>> right. He 
was only 25 when he crossed the Atlantic,>> dispatched by the>> French 
government to study America's penal system. But as>> he travelled>> 
around the new country Tocqueville became obsessed with the>> idea 
that>> he was witnessing the future in the making, the rise of a>> 
new>> democratic world. A treatise on prisons became a meditation>> on 
the new>> world order.>>>> This extraordinary tale is rendered even 
more extraordinary>> in Mr>> Carey's retelling. The author tells his 
story through the>> eyes of two>> characters. Olivier is his version of 
Tocqueville--a French>> aristocrat>> haunted by the horrors of the 
revolution and the glories of>> the world>> it destroyed ("the fine 
powder on the men's wigs, the>> lovely perfumes>> on the ladies 
breasts, the extraordinary palette of the>> ancient regime,>> such 
pinks and greens, gorgeous silks and satins whose>> colours rose and>> 
fell among the folds and melted into the candlelight").>> Parrot is 
an>> itinerant English printer who--thanks to an>> over-complicated 
plot--ends>> up as Olivier's servant-cum-minder. The narrative shifts>> 
constantly>> between the perspectives of the travelling duo.>>>> The 
leading characters are beautifully drawn. Olivier is a>> fastidious>> 
prig and congenital hypochondriac. Parrot is an English>> radical--he>> 
reads Tom Paine and spits on the ancient regime--who is>> obsessed by>> 
art. Olivier is initially repulsed by America but falls in>> love with 
a>> saucy American woman, and hence with the country. Parrot>> finds a 
home>> and a business in America.>>>> Mr Carey's parallel storytelling 
provides him with more>> than just a way>> of exploring two 
idiosyncratic heroes. It allows him to>> offer shifting>> perspectives 
on the third character in this book--America>> itself.>> Olivier moves 
in what boorish Americans regard as civilised>> society.>> Parrot is at 
home in the artistic demimonde. The result is>> a gripping>> portrait 
of Jacksonian America in all its wild variety,>> from its model>> farms 
to its grungy boarding-houses, from its Fourth of>> July parades to>> 
its filthy streets full of copulating pigs.>>>> "Parrot and Olivier" is 
a wonderful tribute to>> Tocqueville's great>> book. But it is more 
than that: it is also a counterblast.>> One of>> Tocqueville's greatest 
fears was that democracy would kill>> great art.>> Everything would be 
reduced to the dismal level of>> democratic man.>> Parrot dismisses 
this fear as a phantom. "There are no sans>> culottes,>> nor will there 
ever be again. There is no tyranny in>> America, nor ever>> could be," 
he says to his master. "Your bleak certainty>> that there can>> be no 
art in a democracy is unsupported by truth." Which>> points to a>> 
wonderful paradox: the very fact that we now revere>> Tocqueville to 
the>> point of writing novels about him is proof that one of his>> 
guiding>> ideas about the evils of democracy was bunkum, if>> 
magnificent bunkum.>>>> ----->> [1] 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307592626/theeconomists-20>> 
[2]>> 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0571253296/economistshop-21>>>>>>>> 
See this article with graphics and related items at 
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15391378&fsrc=rss>>>> 
Go to http://www.economist.com for more global news, views>> and 
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