M&D preambulatory profferings

[Mark Thibodeau]

I think we also have to keep in mind a few things that the early colonists
would have in the backs of their minds about the continent upon which they
had alit at that moment, around Christmas time of 1786.

Above them, the Brits were entrenched. To the East and far West, the French
remained a significant presence, despite the savage expulsion of the
Acadians from Acadie only thirty or so years previous. And of course, the
Spanish were directly underfoot (from Florida all the way to the Pacific by
this point). This was definitely NOT a world that the average Brit of the
time would be familiar with!

It really was a Brave New World, in more ways than a few. Kind of amazing
what has happened since then (understate much?).

MT

On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 10:12 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> LK > about two Brits making their way across an American landscape when
> it was still ostensibly British. In a way, it's about the moment when the
> British handed over the baton of colonialism to the Americans.
>
> I wonder if "more American" or "less American" are useful measures at all,
> and especially for M&D. The people in the Atlantic colonies of the 1750s
> Americans very definitely considered themselves British. As with speciation
> in biology, the "separation" is incremental, and most of its meaning is
> projected retrospectively.
>
> We see the early days of that retrospect, but inevitably our own sense of
> "British" and "American" are freighted with two additional centuries of
> divergence the characters in M&D hadn't known.
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 1:57 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> After the disappointment with Vineland (which has since grown in my
>> esteem), I was thrilled to read M&D - back to the lush language and deeper
>> themes of his earlier books. But all those Caps and ampersands are
>> off-putting to any reader, but especially to (let's face it)us stupid
>> Americans, who are rarely fluent in a second language (guilty!). The text
>> is as off-putting as Chaucer, at first glance - fodder for a college
>> seminar, but not, perhaps the book you grab on the way out the door to read
>> on the subway. Much as I enjoyed the book, this group read is only my
>> second go-round. Looking forward to it.
>>
>> Is it more uniquely American than his other works? Hardly (see stupid
>> American reference above). Yes, Mason & Dixon immediately equals the
>> Mason-Dixon line in the American mind. My first thought on seeing the title
>> was that it was going to be a novel about the Civil War. And of course,
>> that looms over the whole book, which is very much about borders as
>> instruments of racism and colonialism. But it's about two Brits making
>> their way across an American landscape when it was still ostensibly
>> British. In a way, it's about the moment when the British handed over the
>> baton of colonialism to the Americans. The line at the time it was drawn
>> was purely a British bit of business. Most Americans are surprised that
>> it's between Pennsylvania and Maryland, assuming that it's somehow much
>> farther down south.
>>
>> Mark, you're a Pennsylvanian? Does crossing the border into Maryland have
>> any particular significance for you? I'm guessing not much.
>>
>> Mason & Dixon is about the significance of a line, just as V is about the
>> convergence of two lines, and Gravity's Rainbow is about the parabola.
>> Pynchon loves geometry. He may have been attracted to the story because of
>> the line. But in finishing it when he did, after becoming a husband and
>> father, it became something else - a novel of family and friendship -
>> something he was grasping at in Vineland, but perfected here. Between
>> geometry, racism, colonialism and affection - don't think there's anything
>> uniquely American in M&D. Vineland, ATD and IV are all more American, in my
>> opinion.
>>
>> Laura
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> >From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
>> >Sent: Jan 4, 2015 5:49 AM
>>
>> >
>> >I'd love to hear some words from those who already hold this book
>> >close to their hearts. There are a lot of veteran P-listers who put
>> >the novel near (even higher than!) Gravity's Rainbow in that friendly
>> >fascist framework we call Favourites.
>> >
>> >Me, I've never dig-dug the book the way I dig-do V. or GR or VL or BE
>> >but I've always put that down to personal experience or font-size or
>> >perhaps cultural materialism.
>> >
>> >But mostly I've put it down to the fact that I've never been to the US
>> >(outside of a TV or cinema screen). I have no deep, internalised,
>> >situated knowledge of America and the shouted and whispered
>> >conversation it has been having with its divided selves for so many
>> >centuries. Some other non-US readers here have professed their
>> >appreciation of the book so I'm not claiming this is an American-only
>> >novel.
>> >
>> >STILL: I would really love to hear people throw out a few lines
>> >describing what this Pynchon novel is. I want to hear love songs to
>> >the thing, though I feel my ear is tinny and poorly tuned. Ring true!
>> >-
>>
>>
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>
>
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