suddenly fascinated by feminism

[David Morris]

Funny, I'd always assumed that Maskelyne was a real person, especially
because of how much the rivalry with Mason was such an important aspect of
the novel.  And I'd never thought of the mescaline connection...

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:41 AM, Madeleine Maudlin <
madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ah, 'tis funny, never ever crossed my mind Maskelyne might be a real
> person.  Pynchon must have had a few laughs when he came across that in his
> research.  And here I was, at the same time as reading MandD, looking into
> whether Waynman Dixon might be any relation, the engineer who hammered into
> the airshafts of the Queen's Chamber of Cheops, and who engineered the
> theft of that obelisk to London (a gift from a moron Ottoman, still a
> theft).  Dixon still might be, still haven't looked into it--
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Don Higgins <bencanard2000 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Now I'm on 130ish of MandD.  You have the four Vroom women, and the
>> Slave.  There's also Euphrenia, who has promise, lovely name anyway.
>>  (Speaking of characters, why is the fellow Astronomer on St. Helena called
>> Mescaline, for peet's sake?  Jeez, Pynchon has a one tract mind with the
>> psychedelia--)
>>
>>
>> After Neville Maskelyne, from *Mason and Dixon.* Maskelyne was sent at
>> the same time as M and D to record the Transit of Venus on St. Helena. He
>> became Astronomer Royal while they were in America.
>>
>> While Maskelyne is indeed a real person, the name is very suggestive of
>> mescaline. The two do not seem to be "related."
>>
>>
>
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