M&D Deep Duck Ch. 3: Innocent merriment

[David Morris]

I think the implication is that Mason's grieving has brought on a
depression, generating a morbid fascination with death. I don't know how
much deeper one could examine this.

David Morris

On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 1:39 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 15.10: "Mason explains, though without his precise reason for it, that,
> for the past Year or more, it has been his practice to attend the Friday
> Hangings at that melancholy place ..." (Tyburn)
>
> Anybody care to venture a "precise reason"? This first meeting is in 1760
> or 1761, so his habit might date to his wife Rebekah's death in 1759
> (although later we'll get reasons to think he had tended to the
>  Melancholick well before that). And yes, the Tyburn hangings were an
> acknowledged Sight of London.
>
> Is that enough to explain it? Mason is rather gentle, neither sadistic nor
> vindictive; I for one don't see an obvious or direct connection between
> mouning and a desire to watch excutions.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20150112/49d3d83f/attachment.html>