suddenly fascinated by feminism

[Madeleine Maudlin]

I do not know though, at this point in the story, how important a character
Maskelyne is, I've only just met him.  Dixon has only just sailed away
jabbering to a clock.  A tension between Mason and Mask has been
established, but that's all I know.  Not that I ever would have thought
otherwise, regarding his name, if nobody ever pointed it out...

I wonder if I ever *would* have!?  Hum!

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 9:52 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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