Thomas Pynchon
Paperback | Pages: 773 pages Rating: 4.07 | 8991 Users | 746 Reviews
Declare About Books Mason & Dixon
| Title | : | Mason & Dixon |
| Author | : | Thomas Pynchon |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 773 pages |
| Published | : | January 3rd 2004 by Picador USA (first published August 1997) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature. Novels |
Explanation During Books Mason & Dixon
The New York Times Best Book of the Year, 1997
Time Magazine Best Book of the Year 1997
Charles Mason (1728-1786) and Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779) were the British surveyors best remembered for running the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland that we know today as the Mason-Dixon Line. Here is their story as re-imagined by Thomas Pynchon, featuring Native Americans and frontier folk, ripped bodices, naval warfare, conspiracies erotic and political, major caffeine abuse. We follow the mismatch'd pair--one rollicking, the other depressive; one Gothic, the other pre-Romantic--from their first journey together to the Cape of Good Hope, to pre-Revolutionary America and back, through the strange yet redemptive turns of fortune in their later lives, on a grand tour of the Enlightenment's dark hemisphere, as they observe and participate in the many opportunities for insanity presented them by the Age of Reason.
Time Magazine Best Book of the Year 1997
Charles Mason (1728-1786) and Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779) were the British surveyors best remembered for running the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland that we know today as the Mason-Dixon Line. Here is their story as re-imagined by Thomas Pynchon, featuring Native Americans and frontier folk, ripped bodices, naval warfare, conspiracies erotic and political, major caffeine abuse. We follow the mismatch'd pair--one rollicking, the other depressive; one Gothic, the other pre-Romantic--from their first journey together to the Cape of Good Hope, to pre-Revolutionary America and back, through the strange yet redemptive turns of fortune in their later lives, on a grand tour of the Enlightenment's dark hemisphere, as they observe and participate in the many opportunities for insanity presented them by the Age of Reason.
Itemize Books To Mason & Dixon
| Original Title: | Mason & Dixon |
| ISBN: | 0312423209 (ISBN13: 9780312423209) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Charles Mason, Jeremiah Dixon |
Rating About Books Mason & Dixon
Ratings: 4.07 From 8991 Users | 746 ReviewsCriticism About Books Mason & Dixon
Iain, is there a story, or just... well, a narrative which really goes nowhere but is still brilliant!?This is a magnificent novel, immense in its scope. It is not an easy read being set in the eighteenth century; Pynchon uses the language, idiom and spelling of the day. Hence very careful reading is required; it is more Fielding than Richardson. The story involves Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason (of Mason/Dixon line fame and follows them from England to South Africa (Transit of Venus) to St Helena, on to America to map the aforesaid line, back to Britain and so on. Pynchon mixes real historical
FINISHED!!! I am VICTORIOUS! Despite the ridiculous length of time that it took me to finish this, I really enjoyed it. It was strange, wacky, funny, confusing, brilliant, and in the end there was a perfect mix of nostalgia, sadness, and grief. The only thing that I would really recommend is to not read it on a schedule. Do it when you're not watching a clock or trying desperately to finish. It's a book that should be explored rather than read. Unfortunately I focused on just continuing to turn
The book is effectively a story told by Reverend Cherrycoke to the children and adults of relations he is staying with indefinitely (on condition he amuses the children) and is in its simplest form an account of the historical collaboration of the historical figures of Charles Mason (Assistant to the Royal Astronomer and mourning his wife Rebecca) and Jeremiah Dixon (a lustier and plain speaking ex-Quaker land surveyor from Durham). The book begins with them travelling on behalf of the Royal
All Due Regard to LengthLet's get the length of "Mason & Dixon" out of the way first.Lauding fiction on the basis of its maximalism alone might gratify those who derive satisfaction from this one feature of big fat books, but it inevitably deters readers who might enjoy the (other) merits of the book.I was a little apprehensive about the length of this novel when I began. However, the preoccupation with its length obscures what a pleasure it is to read (and why).Here, Thomas Pynchon gives us
This was my favourite Pynchon novel. I know most folks will say that Gravity's Rainbow or the more accessible The Crying of Lot 49 were his great works, but I felt that M&D just was such a beautiful story. The coming together of these two most opposite personalities and their adventures across the native forests and rivers and wildernesses that because what we now know as America was compelling and fascinating. I was not bored for a minute but rather was entertained and felt buoyed by the
One grows suspicious of his literariness when his opinions differ from those of the established literary community. While most will tell you that Gravity's Rainbow is Pynchon's finest work, I enjoyed M&D the most. The contemporary author shows that he's still got it, more than 20 years after winning the National Book Award with GV. The narrative is much more straightforward, though the language takes some getting used to (it becomes one of the book's strengths though, and I found myself
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