Mischianza '77 mix-up?

[Laura Kelber]

But the "rememberers in 1786" are aided by a commemorative mirror, which
most likely would have had the date of the Mischianza inscribed.

On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 2:14 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> As a deep fan, I give Pynchon the benefit of every doubt. Full Disclosure.
> Yes, he has made some (minor) mistakes in his works,
> but maybe fewer in all the books after GR, not gonna measure and dunno.
> And M & D seems, in hindsight, to be flawless to me, also a dunno, though.
>
>
> So, I suggest that this is intentional, of course. Already the memory of
> American Independence from Britain is becoming 1777 is his meaning, I
> suggest.
>
> Howe occupied Philadephia in late '77 and that was the beginning of the
> English farewell, so to be non-literal. He resigned his command in late
> 1777. (I just looked it up so we all can too) Howe leaving the new US with
> a 'farewell Ball' would easily be conflated by rememberers in 1786, I'd
> suggest. (Although it was interesting to me
> to find out that the Mischianza was already written about in *The
> Gentleman's Magazine* in '78; England documenting itself early--mirroring
> its own history as this mag did. More circumstantial evidence Pynchon would
> not make the mistake.
>
> No retreating army ever gave itself such a lavish send-off, is the gist of
> articles on the Mischianza, sometimes still spelled Meschianza (see written
> words in Lot 49) once again
> showing how history is made with language not just documented. Those
> mirrors inside the Great Tent, Pynchon musta loved learning about. See my
> allusion above.
>
> The mythologizing of American history is one of the themes of Mason &
> Dixon all agree. Is this the first example by our sly genius?
>
> Also, what is the early error in ADA?
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 9:09 PM, Alain Champlain <
> alainfchamplain at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> In the first paragraph of Mason & Dixon, the date of the 'farewell Ball'
>> is given as '77. The notes I've found on this book point to articles where
>> the date is given as '78, but I haven't seen any mention of the error: am I
>> missing something? It seems strange to open on the error (rather like
>> Nabokov's Ada), but stranger still that I've found no mention of it -- or
>> at least not yet.
>>
>> Simple error? Help?
>> (New here, many thanks)
>>
>
>
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