America, highly caffeinated: Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon

[Monte Davis]

Also, too: the ending of M&D is the only Pynchon ending that consistently
leaves me smiling, moist-eyed, choked-up with feelings of hope,
reconciliation, even redemption. Vineland and AtD have tendencies that way,
but they're also more deliberately and explicitly set off from the world I
re-enter when I put down the book.

I know, I know: these are all textes, and we're all much too sophisticated
to give high marks for a happy ending. But it still sells books.       

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Joe Allonby
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 9:52 AM
To: Monte Davis
Cc: Dave Monroe; "pynchon-l at waste.org"
Subject: Re: America, highly caffeinated: Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon

" I found it pretty easy to read too: it's dense and Pynchon used a
pseudo-18th century kind of syntax, but it's worth sticking with; after 50
or so pages I barely even noticed anymore."

I was waiting for him to get to this.  I had the same reaction the first
time I read M&D. It didn't take long to get used to the language and after a
while I stopped noticing it. But as a Pynchonhead, I knew what I was in for.
This additional layer of literary whimsy might be off-putting for a reader
new to the author whose reputation is already daubed with the difficult
brush. I still recommend COL49.


On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 9:37 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net> wrote:
> Thanks. Lightweight -- but sweet, and refreshingly free of the 
> "daunting polymath brainiac TRP" meme, and all to the good if it draws new
readers.
>
> I'd still vote for CoL49 as "the best way to get into his works," but 
> perhaps that's only because that was the one that hooked me.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On 
> Behalf Of Dave Monroe
> Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 9:20 AM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: America, highly caffeinated: Thomas Pynchon's Mason and Dixon
>
> http://extendplay.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/america-highly-caffeinated-
> thomas
> -pynchons-mason-and-dixon/
>