suddenly fascinated by feminism

[Keith Davis]

I'm reading M&D now for the second time. Thinking it may be his best, along
with GR.
On May 22, 2012 11:20 AM, "David Morris" <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've got to give MD another read.  I think it was much better than AtD.
>
> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Madeleine Maudlin <
> madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Speaking of funny and MD.  I wonder if anyone would agree, one of the
>> funniest moments in Pynchon is when Mason is trying to remove the mother
>> Vroom's bodice, just a typical classic cliche comedy scene, the knock on
>> the door, Mason jumps out the window, naturally, but then the daughter says
>> to the mother who is coolly composing herself on the edge of the bed,
>>
>> "Mother, what are you doing in Mr. Mason's room?"
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Madeleine Maudlin <
>> madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 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."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20120522/accd7bf5/attachment.html>