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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Mason & Dixon

16:04 / 19.02.02

I just picked this up over the weekend for four dollars. I've been wanting to get to Gravity's Rainbow first, but yielded to my capitalist upbringing.

I'm about fifty pages in. And I'm finding it VERY dense. But it's enjoyable in the hectic atmosphere Pynchon creates. By manipulating the conventions of grammar and text he has changed a historical revision into the fantastic - a bit like Dorthy's Oz. So far the talking dog is the best bit.

Without spoiling it - what do other people think about Mason & Dixon? Is it better or worse than Gravity's Rainbow? I get the idea that Pynchon is like Joyce, in that I should read his books in a certain order.

16:32 / 19.02.02

Got that at the Harvard Bookstore, eh? Got mine there just before Xmas for the same price.

Have only read part of it so far, but as it seems you can just go right on ahead. It's worth reading his books in order, if only because each prepares you a little better for the next. Though really, I'd say the best order is: Lot 49, V and then Gravity's Rainbow. That's an increasing order of complexity, and you see his themes developing in the earlier books. By many accounts Vineland is a step back from GR, though I've not read it in a long time, so my account is dim. The other reason for reading in publication order is that there's a number of characters that carry from book to book - mainly from V to Gravity's Rainbow, but some of them make their way into M&D as well.

[ 19-02-2002: Message edited by: videodrome ]

18:25 / 19.02.02

I only read M&D once, right after it came out, but at the time what struck me about it was that in addition to having his characters function in quirky and symbolic ways, for once Pynchon created living, breathing people that the reader could have empathy with. It's kind of ironic that he had to pick two people who were once alive to manage this trick, but Pynchon's characterization is at its peak in Mason and Dixon.

19:29 / 20.02.02

V and Lot49 are some of my absolute favs of all time, but I think M&D was an incredible book... and much better than Gravity's Rainbow.

Mason and Dixon gets very entertaining by the end. A great book.

Did anyone hear of the CNN interview with him a few years back?

Locust No longer

00:53 / 15.01.06

Just finished this after sporadic reading sessions over three months. I haven't fully digested it yet. It's one of those novels (like most of his books) that, as soon as I was done, I felt I needed to reread it. There were so many tremendously funny, surreal and poignant parts in this novel that it really does over power you. But as I've heard some say before: no matter how complex it gets, ultimately it's really about two friends. I think I would agree.

I can understand why so many find this one the most difficult to get into of his works, but it's definitely worth the effort. It has a first sentence on par with Gravity's Rainbow, as well.

05:22 / 16.01.06

I started off with Gravity's Rainbow, but I really shouldn't have. I didn't have the tools. I do agree that they should be read in the order of writing, if only to see him develop as a writer. V felt like it was from the heart, Lot 49 was like a prose-poem crossed with a short story, and GR, well, it's kind of sprawling, and you need to go through it twice to really absorb all of it.

Joyce is kind of like that too, though the complexity of the story seems to increase geometrically from book to book.

After my first attempt at GR, I got all of his books. I went from his short stories, published before anything else, and then have been reading them in published order. I've been enjoying watching the transition of work, and am looking forward to re-reading GR next week. Then Vineland, then M&D. So I'll be on-topic for this thread sometime halfway through 2006.

(Is it worth starting different threads for Pynchon's different books, or can we gush/analayze about all of them here?)

13:13 / 27.01.06

I'm still in a stage of sporadically working my way through this literary miasma, the talking dog has been one of the high points so far along with the brooding sexuality of the women on the island.

One technique that I enjoy is just letting my mind run off on its own loops, sprawling through some parts with speed and lacking the neccessary diligence then, at the end of each chapter, refering to these reading notes almost like taking a compass bearing after frolicking freely along a wild path for several hours.

17:02 / 20.09.07

I'm nearly halfway through it and I'm enjoying it, but not for the reasons I usually enjoy Pynchon. It's far less intense than GR, and once you get into the rhythm of it, it's a story you can settle into. Rather than needing to be amped up to read it, it feels good to wrap myself in its dense prose and story at the end of the day.

However, the twins just went to bed, so I wonder if the tone will change.