Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-788cddb947-kc5xb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-09T20:45:10.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Mason & Dixon

History at the Crossroads

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2023

Tore Rye Andersen
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Get access

Summary

Taking off from an analysis of Mason & Dixon, Chapter 2 analyzes Pynchon’s depiction of how the basic impulses of modernity (the colonialist export of European capitalism and technological and scientific rationalism to the rest of the world) were established in earnest during the Enlightenment. Most critics primarily read Mason & Dixon as a story about America, but through analyses of, for instance, the prevalent theme of westering and the character Bonk, the chapter discusses the novel’s considerable attention to a global space. Furthermore, the chapter discusses Pynchon’s varied historical methods. His historiographical reflections are particularly evident in Mason & Dixon, and drawing on historical theories by Michel Foucault, Hayden White, Carlo Ginzburg, and Niall Ferguson, the chapter discusses how Pynchon in this and the two other global novels balances between immersive and distanced historical perspectives, and how he combines spatial and temporal forms of history writing.

Type
Chapter
Information
Planetary Pynchon
History, Modernity, and the Anthropocene
, pp. 22 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Mason & Dixon
  • Tore Rye Andersen, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
  • Book: Planetary Pynchon
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009377607.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Mason & Dixon
  • Tore Rye Andersen, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
  • Book: Planetary Pynchon
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009377607.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Mason & Dixon
  • Tore Rye Andersen, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
  • Book: Planetary Pynchon
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009377607.003
Available formats
×