M&D - Chapter 17 - Maskelyne's Affairs

[Mark Kohut]

I ask the same question. ....this time I've noticed he seems to see
(by saying) certain themes--or thematic concerns---more clearly than
our two boys working it all out...function of being 'established'?

On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 12:23 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> JM> So why is Maskelyne spending six months in Helena...
>
> Why is Maskelyne so prominent in the book, and why are his ambition,
> eccentricity and insecurity so finely detailed? Is he doing thematic work
> beyond providing a focus for M&D's anxieties about hidden agendas at the
> Royal Society (and beyond that, Clive as synecdoche for empire and capital)?
> Are he and Bradley Pynchonian doublings: sketches of what a more careerist
> Mason might have been?
>
> This time through I think I understand the extended prologue of the Cape and
> St. Helena better than in previous readings, but I have  a nagging sense I'm
> still not getting Maskelyne.
>
> Great work, Johnny!
>
> On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 12:47 AM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Moving from the seas (both remiscing of fishing in Wearside, and
>> considering their own shipbound voyage home)  to the skies, Mason and Dixon
>> gossip about Maskelyne's practises and motives. Again, there's more than an
>> element of repression and avoidance in the change of subject, "They would
>> rather discuss Maskelyne's Affairs, than what waits in England, in their own
>> Futurity".
>>
>> So why is Maskelyne spending six months in Helena to observe the Star of
>> Sirius, when "five minutes is more than enough for some"?
>> Dixon idly speculates about "Beauties unintroduc'd ", or perhaps a drink
>> problem, but acknowledges that Mason's in a better position to comment,
>> having been in close quarters with Maskelyne since October.
>> Characteristically high minded and prepared to think the best of people -
>> and mindful of not having left Maskelyne "in the best of mental health",
>> Mason suggests Maskelyne is staying in the hope of revelation similar to
>> James Bradley's discovery of the Aberration, another (seemingly) chance
>> discovery made when Bradley was really watching out for the Parallax of
>> London's Zenith Star
>>
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberration_of_light#James_Bradley.27s_observations
>>
>> Mason also suggests that Maskelyne may simply have amde a home for himself
>> and developed something of a comfort zone in St Helena. Yet, he's also aware
>> of an upcoming expedition to draw borders between Maryland and Pennsylvania
>> that the Royal Academy are organising, and that Maskelyne will be reluctant
>> to personally pursue - Mason expects to be used as a political pawn, with
>> Maskelyne shepherding him out of sight, a rogue unstrustworthy talent farmed
>> out to the Brave New World, the American wilderness. In the meantime
>> Maskelyne will be able to correspond with Bradley, about landing the top
>> positions with Mason out of the way.
>>
>> With Bradley still mistrustful of Mason, because of the connection to
>> Bradley's now wife Susannah, Mason wonders how likely he is to receive the
>> ppointment after all. There appears to be only one outstanding candidate to
>> undertake the American study of lunars - "If you aew interested, Dixon,
>> after the Work you did at the Cape, you may likely write your own Contract"
>>
>> In the newfound spirit of camaraderie and mutual appreciation, Dixon
>> wonders whether they mightn't both be sent to America in the name of Science
>> and the Crown.
>>
>> "I don't think so"
>
>
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