Who claims Truth, Truth abandons. History is hir'd, or coerc'd, only in Interests that must ever prove base. She is too innocent, to be left within the reach of anyone in Power,- who need but touch her, and all her Credit is in the instant vanish'd, as if it had never been. She needs rather to be tended lovingly and honorably by fabulists and counterfeiters, Ballad-Mongers and Cranks of ev'ry Radius, Masters of Disguise to provide her the Costume, Toilette, and Bearing, and Speech nimble enough to keep her beyond the Desires, or even the Curiosity, of Government.—Episode 35 (Page 350-361)
Mason & Dixon is a novel written by Thomas Pynchon. Released in 1997, it recounts the work of the titular duo. It is written in a style that mirrors (and satirizes) the writing style of many eighteenth century authors.
Characters[]
- Charles Mason - an astronomer with ties to the Royal Society (specifically being the Assisstant to the Astronomer Royal)
- Jeremiah Dixon - an astronomer of Irish heritage
- Reverend Wicks Cherrycoke - the narrator of the tale who claims to have accompanied Mason and Dixon in their expeditions
- Nevile Maskelyne - an astronomer and relative of one Clive of India whom Mason and Dixon meet on St. Helena
- Dr. Benjamin Franklin
- The Duck - a mechanical duck built with immense powers
- Colonel Washington
- Gershom - a slave of Washington's who practices Judaism
- Delicia Quall - a neighbour of Mason's father
- Rebekah - Mason's dead wife
- William Emerson - Dixon's mentor
- Father Christopher Maire - a Jesuit priest
- Stig - a "Swedish" spy disguised as an axman
- Armand Allègre - an exiled French chef
- Professor Voam - a Philosophical Operator who joins the expedition of Mason and Dixon
- Jonas Everybeet - an expert on magnetism who is hired by Mason and Dixon
- Nathanael McLean - a young bookish pimp who follows the expedition of Mason and Dixon
- Captain Zhang - a Feng-shui master
- Mr. Philip Dimdown - a "Continental Macaroni"
- R.C. - a surveyor encountered by the main characters
- Mr. Edgewise - a gambler who accompanies Wicks
- Lord Lepton - a "iron-monger, slave-holder, and inveterate gambler"
- Frau Luise Redzinger - a young woman met by Wicks while in the Jesuit carriage
- The Learnèd English Dog - a talking dog encountered by Mason and Dixon in Portsmouth
- Hester - Mason's aunt
- Doctor Isaac Mason - Mason's son
- William Mason - Mason's son
- Mary Mason - Mason's second wife
- John Harland - an instrument-bearer hired by Mason and Dixon
- Fender-Belly Bodine - a sailor that Mason and Dixon meet in Portsmouth
- Charles Mason, Sr. - Mason's father
- Captain Smith - the captain of the Seahorse
- Cornelius Vroom - the patriarch of the Vroom family
- Johanna Vroom - the matriarch of the Vroom family
- Jet, Greet, and Els Vroom - the young daughters of the Vroom family
- Austra - a slave owned by the Vroom family
- Dolly and Molly - two women known by Dr. Franklin
- Hepsie - an old woman native to Portsmouth with a gift for fortune-telling
- The Fabulous Jellows - the exhibitors of the Learnèd English Dog
- The Lady Florinda - an old tryst of Mason's whom he encounters on the island of St. Helena
- Tom - a young Virginian encountered by Dixon. Presumably, this is Thomas Jefferson.
- Bonk - a police official in South Africa
The frame story[]
- Tenebrae - Wicks' niece
- Pitt and Pliny, the Twins - two young twins who listen to Wicks' story
- Mr. J. Wade LeSpark - a respected local merchant
- Elizabeth Cherrycoke LeSpark - Wicks' sister and the wife of Mr. LeSpark
- Cousin Ethelmer - Tenebrae's cousin
- DePugh - the son of Ives LeSpark
Publisher's summary[]
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.
Plot[]
Part One: Latitudes and Departures[]
After attending the funeral of Charles Mason, Reverend Wicks Cherrycoke decides to stay with other members of his family during Christmastide. While staying with them, he begins to tell various tales to the younger members of the family. Though he tells various entertaining stories about the world outside of America, his younger relatives yearn for tales about America. As such, the Reverend decides to tell the tale of his time spent with the expedition of Mason and Dixon.
Several decades beforehand and while still living in England, Wicks was arrested for publishing pamphlets anonymously. The time spent in jail caused Wicks' mental health to deteriorate and as such he was sent onto a sea-voyage in the hopes that it would help to cure his mental state. Around the same time, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon wrote letters to each other for the first time.
After hiring a ship, the two meet face-to-face for the first time in Portsmouth and (after Mason talked about his time watching executions), they retire to an ale-house. After "the day darkens", the two encounter a talking dog (the "Learnèd English Dog") and meet a sailor named Fender-Belly Bodine who intends on buying the dog and using it to convince the "Savages" lurking in the Indies to make him their king (something which Mason rejects, believing that the dog would simply be eaten). When Fender attempts to buy the dog, he finds that the "owners" (or exhibitors) refuse to sell the dog. After this exchange, Mason learns from an old woman named Hepsie that the ship he has hired leaves upon a Friday. Dixon comments that this is bad luck. This leads to a brief discussion about the best date for a ship to leave on.
Shortly after this, the HMS Seahorse departs from Portsmouth intending on reaching Sumatra with Mason and Dixon (alongside Fender and Wicks) in its bowels. Before the ship can even leave the coast of France, it is attacked by a French warship l'Grand. During the battle, Wicks serves as apprentice to the ship's surgeon. Though the battle is brief (and ends rather abruptly), it causes thirty casualties and requires the Seahorse to limp to the port city of Plymouth for emergency repairs. While in Plymouth, the two explorers (while drunkenly thinking over the assault), write a letter to the Royal Society trying to explain the assault and its possible causes. They swiftly receive a letter from (to Mason's chagrin) a "faceless committee" which tells them to resume their expedition to Bencoolen.
Mason and Dixon (alongside Wicks and Fender) return to the Seahorse (which is now escorted by a second frigate until it reaches the open sea). During the voyages, the crew fights boredom through various lascivious and cantankerous means. As the ship crosses Tenerife, the second anniversary of Mason's wife's death also crosses.
Shortly after this, the Seahorse reaches the Cape of Good Hope and moors in Cape Town. Almost as soon as they arrive, Mason and Dixon are accosted by a suspicious member of the local constabulary named Bonk who warns them against spreading revolutionary notions to the slave-classes. While in Cape Town, the two astronomers stay in the household of the Vroom family - who try to get Mason to "sleep" with their slave Austra (hoping that the two would produce a mixed, and more profitable, child) by filling Mason's mind with "impure" thoughts. Upon finding out about this, Mason is extremely disturbed. When he attempts to voice his extremely negative thoughts about Cape Town to Dixon, he finds that Dixon disagrees with him. The two paranoid astronomers question how they ever decided to pair up. Despite this, the two continue to stick together - at least while searching for edible food in the markets outside of the Vroom household. During one of these expeditions, they learn from Wicks (who is looking over ripening mangoes) that the Seahorse has left without the three of them.
Before the Seahorse left, its crew built an observatory on the outskirts of Cape Town. Due to a rainstorm crossing over Cape Town, the Vroom daughters are trapped on the outskirts of town. They follow Mason to the observatory and are trapped in the observatory by the storm. Soon, the skies clear enough for the astronomers to witness the Transit of Venus (an event which Wicks explains to his listeners by bringing them to a nearby orrerry). Around the time of the Transit, Mason and Dixon notice that the town has become strangely peaceful. This state (which may have been caused by the Transit) ends in a few weeks - with everything returning roughly to normal once it finishes. Several months later, the two astronomers leave Cape Town on the HMS Mercury while Wicks takes a separate ship for India. Despite this, Wicks is (possibly due to reading on this leg of the journey, though more likely because he fabricated most of the following events) able to recount their voyage to the desolate island of St. Helena.
Shortly after arriving, Mason encountered an old tryst he met at the hanging of one Lord Ferrers for the murder of his steward. The presence of the Lady Florinda brings back memories of this tryst - which happened shortly after the death of Mason's wife. After snapping out of these memories, Mason learns that Lady Florinda is betrothed. While on St. Helena, the two astronomers also meet a fellow astronomer named Maskelyne - whose 29th birthday (which he considers the end of his youth) approaches. Though hesitant to do so, the two visitors decide to help Maskelyne celebrate his birthday. Shortly after this, Dixon is ordered to return to South Africa without Mason. While leaving, Dixon takes a clock kept by Maskelyne (with this clock being replaced by a clock that the two astronomers brought with them). With Dixon away, Mason is effectively left alone with Maskelyne and decides to help him with his next assignment (observing lunar distance to find longitude at sea. The two find their characters wildly opposed to each other. While at a bar known as the Moon (Maskelyne's favorite bar), the two read out their horoscopes after prodding from Maskelyne. While Maskelyne gives a largely truthful horoscope for Mason, his fellow astronomer gives an extremely flattering (and false) horoscope for Maskelyne.
While Mason wonders what has happened to Dixon, his fellow astronomer has arrived in Cape Town to find that rumors about Mason "sleeping" with the female members of the Vroom family have spread across the town. Cornelius nearly shoots Dixon (seeing him as a substitute for the man he believes cuckolded him) and accompanies the patriarch to a bar known as The World's End. While out with Cornelius, Dixon sees signs of the pervasive mistreatment of the native population and meets Bonk, who reveals that he plans on quitting the police force and becoming a simple farmer. After returning Cornelius to his home, Dixon is told by Gret (one of the Vroom sisters) to hide the clock he brought due to the Cape Towners' paranoia about time-pieces. Despite this, Dixon's dossier is marked "yellow" (which seemingly does nothing beyond officially representing the Cape Towners' paranoia about Dixon).
While Dixon is on Cape Town, Mason and Maskelyne visit a cliff on the windward side of Saint Helena. While on this cliff, Maskelyne recounts an incident in which he saved a soldier from suicide. While Maskelyne states that this soldier still asks him to speak with his cousin (the famous Clive of India) to let him leave the island, Mason suspects that the soldier is a phantom. Around this time, Mason begins hearing the voice of his dead wife Rebekah. While in England, Mason tells Dixon about these visitations. He also (supposedly, though Wicks' guests point out historical inaccuracies with this tale) how he met Rebekah. While watching the rolling of an extremely massive wheel of cheese in a village in Gloucestershire (though at the time, he was thinking of another woman he only vaguely knew). After the massive wheel broke free of its wagon, it nearly careened into Mason and killed him but he was saved at the last minute by Rebekah.
While speaking with Maskelyne, Mason becomes convinced that the soldier he saved is nothing more than a specter. In the city of Jamestown on Saint Helena, Mason visits an exhibit devoted to Jenkins' Ear (the severed ear of a British man which caused a war between England and Spain) owned by Florinda's fiancé which is situated in a cramped tunnel. While in the museum, Mason is presented with the ear and told to tell it his greatest wish. Though Mason initially wants to bring his wife back to life but instead wishes for Dixon to return to Saint Helena. While telling this to Dixon, the Irish astronomer jokingly says that he heard this wish while in Cape Town before the two talk about Maskelyne and their impending voyage to England.
In June, the two astronomers return to England. Mason is interviewed by representatives of the East India Company, the Royal Society, and various other groups. While Dixon returns to his family in Ireland, Mason returns home. Shortly after returning, he learns that his benefactor James Bradley has fallen ill. Bradley soon dies of his illness. While at a bar, Mason is drawn into a conversation about Bradley and his involvement in the "eleven missing days". During this conversation, Mason revealed (possibly facetiously) that an astronomer named Macclesfield hired a secret army of "Asiatic Pygmies" and made them watch over and keep control of the missing days. This secret army is perpetually stuck in the eleven days but can still be viewed (though they appear to be ghosts).
After his visit to the George, Mason visits his father's home. It is here that his aunt Hester takes care of his two children while Mason goes on his voyages. While at the house, he is visited by a neighbor who wishes that Mason would stop his voyages and settle with his children (and marry her). Mason refuses to do this and reveals that he is going to travel to America. Mason is told that if he leaves, his children will most likely end up as apprentices to his father. A flashback reveals that Mason's father (a baker, who believes that bread is alive due to the yeast in it) was always slightly antagonistic towards his "stargazing". Further flashbacks shows Mason and Rebekah's proposal.
While Mason visits his family, Dixon visits his mentor William Emerson (whom is revealed in flashbacks to have been disappointed that Dixon became a surveyor). While at Emerson's home, Dixon is introduced to a Jesuit priest named Christopher Maire. The two discuss Dixon's planned voyage to America and wish for Dixon to keep in contact with Jesuits in America. Though Dixon is hesitant to work with the Jesuits, he is seemingly not against the idea. The discussion moves from Emerson's house to a pub named the Cudgel and Throck. While in the pub, Maire tries to hide his Jesuitness by wearing regular clothes. The three of them discuss various matters (including the Jesuit influence on China and ancient tunnels which crisscross County Durham) before Maire mentions that a dish called "pizza" which originates from Italy. This makes various other people in the pub somewhat suspicious about him, but Maire is able to distract them by making them start work on making "the first British pizza". This dish is an odd construction. Its dough is made of tough bread, its sauce is a bottle of "ketjap" which Dixon found in Cape Town, and it is topped with stilton cheese and anchovies. While eating the pizza, the trio and their guests talk about the "werewolf" status of one Lud, who seemingly is only able to communicate in growls.
According to Dixon, his entire existence was started by a pair of shoes. This pair of shoes belonged to his mother and were found by his father shortly before meeting her. When Dixon was twenty-two, his father died. This deeply impacted Dixon - which led him to be a (functioning) alcoholic. Presumably while riding through the Thames, Dixon thinks through all of these facts but is interrupted as the ship he is on is ensnared in a cloud of fog. When it emerges from the fog, it finds itself transported to the shores of Delaware for a brief moment.
Shortly after this (in 1763), Dixon and Mason reunite in London. The two visit a pub, where they talk about the death of Bradley. Mason reveals that Dixon's mentor planned to visit them in Plymouth before they left for South Africa but was stopped by his illness. Their talk quickly turns to worries that the letter they sent after the attack by the l'Grand casting doubts on their professional abilities and the possible "true meaning" of Bradley's visit.
Part Two: America[]
The two surveyors arrive in or near Philadelphia and begin to become ingratiated with the New World's unique environment. The Reverend takes a brief break to discuss with his company the various evangelical sects formed by a figure known as MacClenaghan and the new musical themes which have spawned due to them.
At an apothecary, the two surveyors meet the famous American philosopher Dr. Franklin. After Dixon buys an extremely large supply of laudanum, Franklin invites the two to a coffee-house. In this house of seditious and revolutionary talk, Franklin attempts to quiz Mason on his companion's ties to the Jesuits and Dixon on Mason's links to the East India Company (while one is being quizzed, the other sights an inventor known as Lewis who tries to sell them various gadgets). After this quiz, Franklin introduces two women of possible ill repute (named Dolly and Molly) and performs music on a mysterious Instrument before inviting Dixon to visit Mount Vernon. While Franklin stays behind, the two surveyors travel to the Virginia plantation in a newly-invented type of carriage.
While at Mount Vernon, the surveyors meet one Colonel Washington, his black (and Jewish) slave Gershom, and his wife Martha. While sampling Washington's newly-planted hemp crop, they discuss local politics which affect surveying. Some time before this, the Jesuits left behind a series of telluric plates in America. Washington reveals that he took one of these plates, which has Chinese writing on its back. It is postulated (largely by Dr. Franklin after the meeting at Mount Vernon) that the plates are part of a malign communications network made by the Jesuits and their Asian allies.
After a visit to two professional effigy makers, Mason begins to seek out "wicked entertainment" - going bar-hopping with Dixon and finding "secret-society meetings in the back rooms of every place they visit". During this search, paranoid thoughts begin to form in Mason's mind about the Commissioners of the Boundary Line. During one of these tavern-crawls, Mason sees Dr. Franklin showing the crowds the miracle of electricity while dressed as the Grim Reaper. Soon, the two surveyors begin the tasks asked of them by the Commissioners. In December of the year 1763, the two mark the southernmost limits of Philadelphia and establish an observatory within it. Shortly after this, the two surveyors meet with Dolly and Molly in a coffee-house. While there, Mason finds that his melancholy mood is mirrored by Molly's.
One morning, the two surveyors awake to find the streets of Philadelphia abuzz with noise. After some deliberation, they decide to find what is causing this and learn that a mob known as the Paxton Boys have massacred a defenseless group of Native peoples who lived near Philadelphia. The extreme violence that the Paxton Brothers meted on their victims greatly disturbs the two surveyors and they begin to think of how to avoid the Brothers in their future westward voyage. The mention of the massacre brings about a discussion on liberty and violence amongst the Reverend's guests and amongst the surveyors while they are at a coffee-house. During their discussion, Dixon mentions his encounters with Jacobites as a child in Durham.
Shortly before departing England for America, Dixon was given a mysterious timepiece (dubbed "The Watch") by Emerson. According to Emerson, the Watch was an example of perpetual motion - being able to tick indefinitely without being winded. Though Mason is skeptical that the Watch actually works, a surveyor named R.C. notices the Watch and becomes enamored with it. One day, while Dixon is not watching it, R.C. swallows the Watch. For some time afterwards, the Watch sits within R.C.'s stomach and perpetually ticks. Upon receiving a letter from Dixon summarizing this, Emerson is not dismayed but is ecstatic - being so ecstatic that his celebration makes him bedridden.
As 1764 begins and an attack on Fort Pitt still looms in the memory of Pennsylvanians, the two surveyors begin work on building another observatory south of Pittsburgh. They decide to build it on the farm of one John Harland after another local farmer shoots at them with a rifle. While the surveyors build their observatory and work on marking off the "Tangent Line", they are closely watched by Harland and his wife. Shortly after they finish work around the Harland farm, the two surveyors decide to visit the site of the Paxton Brothers' massacre - the town of Lancaster. While there, they are unable to reach the actual site of the massacre and are questioned by various locals of the town. Shortly after this, the two visit the actual site of the massacre separately.
After a discussion on the true nature of history and the salacious nature of the novel, the Reverend begins telling how he reunited with Mason and Dixon. As the "Stamp Act Crisis" raged throughout Philadelphia, Wicks accompanied a group of passengers in a Jesuit carriage (described by Wicks as being "bigger on the inside than on the outside") alongside a gambler and a young woman seeking to find lawyers in Philadelphia. Though the woman (one Frau Redzinger) at first refused to reveal her story, she soon revealed that she was related to a born-again preacher who formed his faith around his near-drowning in a vat of hops.
Soon, the carriage arrives at an inn known as the India Queen. It is here that Cherrycoke is reunited with Mason and Dixon. He reveals that he has been hired to be the chaplain of their expedition (something the two surveyors are largely unaware of). After learning of this, the two surveyors spend the rest of the night getting drunk and watching various patrons entering into the India Queen to escape a nor'easter. The next morning, the French chef of the India Queen recounts the extremely unusual tale of how he entered into Pennsylvania.
The chef (whose name is Armand Allègre) was apprentice to one of the best-known chefs in Paris and became famous due to his skill at preparing duck. One day, Armand was visited by a detective who revealed that Armand had gained the attention of Georges de Vaucanson's mechanical duck (which had gained sentience after Vaucanson attempted to teach it the acts of L'amour and which now has somewhat mystical abilities). Shortly after this, Armand was found by the Duck - who sought to bring him to justice for his part in the deaths of numerous ducks and began demanding that he help her remove a duplicate Duck from the clutches of Vaucanson. Instead of doing this, Armand goes about his daily life - which becomes more and more difficult due to people becoming aware of the Duck and him. Soon, Armand decides to escape the Duck by fleeing to Pennsylvania.
Once Armand finishes his story, an enraged patron named Mr. Dimdown attempts to attack Armand with his blade. Before Dimdown's sword can pierce Armand's heart, it is deflected by the Duck (who has become Armand's protector). As the storm billows on, a discussion on the Duck and American foods turns to a discussion on religious cannibalism. Along with this, Frau Redzinger and Armand begin a relationship under the watchful eye of the Duck while Dimdown begins a relationship with one Mitzi Redzinger. As the relationships bloom, the two men stop their antagonism towards each other.
Even after this, the snow still looms. Mason and Dixon begin arguing over Mason's melancholy and Dixon's growing waistline (aided and abetted by a baker with whom he "fancies"). Shortly after this, the nor'easter ends and the two surveyors are allowed to depart. Shortly after departing, the two briefly split. Dixon travels southwards and encounters a young boy named Tom who details the history of his state of Virginia.
Meanwhile, Mason goes north to New York - reaching Manhattan on the sixth anniversary of his wife's death. While in Long Island, he is attacked by a gang of hooligans and pretends to be French due to their anti-British sentiments. As the gang is vaguely aware of him being an astronomer, he is sent to repair their telescope. While working on the telescope, Mason is caught up in their political debates on the nature of wage-slavery and representation for America in the House of Commons. After leaving this gang, Mason's horse is spooked by an unseen figure and Mason begins travelling towards Philadelphia while thinking over the impact of the colonies on the rest of the world.
Shortly after this, Mason and Dixon reunite and then visit the private ridotto of one Lord Lepton (a slave-holder who fled England to escape massive gambling debts) along with Wicks. While there, Dixon recognizes the Lord's wife from his time spent at Castle Raby. Lepton soon begins entertaining his guests at his Pennsylvanian estate with enslaved concubines bought from a Canadian convent. The vile and hellish atmosphere created by this act unnerves Mason and Dixon enough to make them flee Lord Lepton's company.
After the evening of gambling at Lepton's estate, Dixon decides to steal a nearby tub as "payment" for his "debts". To do this, he uses a magnetic principle taught to him by his Jesuit mentor (which lets him hold up the tub with only one hand) and has Mason hold up the tub while he "reconnoiters" with Lady Lepton. Mason is found holding up the tub by a "Philosophical Operator" named Professor Voam who reveals that the tub has gained an unearthly magnetism and joins the expedition. Once Dixon arrives, the three encounter one of Lord Lepton's slaves who could be Austra. They also find a rifle with an inverted pentagram (the symbol of the Paxton Brothers) on it. At this point, they are found by Wade LeSpark (whom was reclining on a nearby couch) and briefly discuss the rifle with him before departing. Voam has them pick up a "Torpedo" (or electric eel) named Felípe who becomes the compass of the expedition.
Some months after gaining their compass, the surveying-party reaches Newark. Mason and Dixon retrieve their mail and learn that Maskelyne was appointed Astronomer Royal due to the death of James Bradley. This news greatly angers Mason (who thought that he might be a candidate for the post) and Dixon attempts to console his friend. Soon, though, the two resume their surveying. After hiring an expert on magnetism named Jonas Everybeet, the party begins thinking about placing crystal markers on the ley lines. Along with Everybeet, Mason and Dixon hire Swedish ax-men before beginning to plot out the state line between Pennsylvania and Maryland (and help a couple divorce due to this work).
As the crew of ax-men travel through America, they begin to spread legends about Armand's Duck. Soon, the surveyors encounter this Duck and its "suitor". While speaking with Armand, Mason begins to speculate that the Duck has become something akin to a new planet - subconsciously linking Vaucanson's creation and attempts to understand it with the passing of his own wife. Along with the Duck, a company of prostitutes under the control of a pimp named Nathaniel McLean have begun following the expedition. These prostitutes bring about complaints due to their extortionary practices and the two surveyors negotiate with Nathanael and the head girl, Mrs. Eggslap, due to this. Shortly after these negotiations, a storm rolls in. The two surveyors are nearly struck by lightning but avoid it. Once the storm ends, the expedition visits a "dairy country" filled with milkmaids (something which draws the attention of Nathanael.
While the surveyors move eastward, the expedition is bordered by the Susquehanna River. While trying to close off their boundary line, the surveyors discover an inconsistency that creates a no-man's "wedge" in-between Pennsylvania and Maryland that neither owns. Along with this, they discover that two chain-men named Darby and Cope have been impersonating them for their own gains. After discussing this, one Squire Haligast warns that the party will encounter "China-men".
After crossing the Susquehanna and entering into more unsettled wilderness, the surveyors begin to become more and more paranoid and the party encounters the Redzinger farm. While there, they encounter Frau's born-again husband Peter - who reveals that Jesus has left his company. This encounter comes right as fall begins. As the season begins in full, Mason and Dixon begin nigh-ritualistically tavern-hopping. While in one of these taverns, Dixon encounters a group of Kabbalistic Jews who inform him of the legend of the Native-made Golem and their own beliefs about the ties between the Enlightenment and the discovery of America. During these talks, Dixon hears the footsteps of something that might be the Golem.
While the two surveyors play practical jokes on each other, they soon hear the trudging footsteps of something moving outside in the rain. Various sources - such as the mythical Black Dog and an incoming horde of Natives (along with a singular luminescent Native) - are floated around but the true origin of the footsteps is left ambiguous. Shortly after this, the surveying party encounters an ancient cave system filled with strange, nigh-Lovecraftian, and immensely ancient sigils.
Soon, the party crosses the Conococheague Creek (an area reminiscent of the Allegheny Uprising) and then turns to the east due to the coming of winter. While turning east, the party crosses through the site of the Battle of the Monongahela and the two surveyors discuss the defeat of Captain Braddock and the weavers' rebellion in England (along with their early lives). Soon, their historical musings are interrupted and they begin sledding and drinking along with discussing altitude and unbounded space as the year wraps up.
After the New Year, the narrative about the surveying of America briefly parts for a narrative about a woman being kidnapped by Natives and being brought to a Jesuit college in the northern region of Quebec. The woman (who goes unnamed and is usually referred to as "the captive") learns about the intricacies of the Jesuit's mysterious communications machinery (which is seemingly controlled by Chinese operatives, including a master of Feng Shui) and is trained to become a Widow of Christ by the other women in the college. Soon, this narrative is revealed to be nothing more than passages from the Ghastly Fop (a pulpy and somewhat lascivious and sapphic series of novels) being read by Ethelmer and Tenebrae.
When the narrative is resumed, we learn of the captive fleeing the college in the company of a Chinese Feng-shui master named Captain Zhang to avoid a Spanish zealot. The two split and the captive joins the company of a female survivor of the Battle of Leuthen named Zsuzsa. The two soon encounter the party of Mason and Dixon. Upon meeting the captive, Mason is captivated by the apparent similarities between the woman and Rebekah. That night, Mason has a nightmare which brings him to the revelation that the woman and Rebekah are actually quite different. Shortly after this, it is revealed that the woman and Zsuzsa plan to become Adventuressess together (and have possibly begun a lesbian relationship).
Shortly after this encounter, the party encounters Captain Zhang. They seemingly welcome him into the party but soon discover that Zhang's mental state is rather unhinged. He believes that his Spanish pursuer Zarpazo is everywhere within the camp and begins discussing various extremely paranoid theories about the nature of the expedition. This soon devolves into Zhang believing that he is Zhang (something that is proven to be false) and declares that he will duel Zhang to the death. Before this duel can be seen, our "main" narrative as recounted by Reverend Cherrycoke returns with Mason reminiscing upon the surrealist netherworld that he fell into during the missing eleven days of 1753.
In a mirroring of their split after being trapped in a cabin in a snowstorm, Mason and Dixon yet again go north and south. Dixon heads north for New York - where he watches a play called "The Black Hole of Calcutta" before encountering the gang of thieves previously encountered by Mason alongside Fender-belly Bodine (who jumped ship in Madras) and Dimdown (who has shed his "foppish" garb). Meanwhile, Mason travels to Virginia and reunites with Colonel Washington and Nathaneal McLean (who left the party some time ago and has returned to being a student).
Upon returning from the north and the south, Mason and Dixon discover that their camp has fallen into disarray. They learn that a possibly unstable member of their party named Captain Shelby was involved in a custody dispute that led to the brief kidnapping of a baby and a (somewhat forced) shotgun wedding between the two parties. As the party trudges further westward, Dixon recounts the tale of the Lambton Worm and its killer to Zhang. The tale ends with the knight who slayed the Worm breaking an oath and starting a curse that lasted for nine generations. Shortly after this, Shelby says that the party should visit a "serpent mound". This "mound" turns out to be a mysterious hollow cone-shaped structure that resembles a Leyden Jar in construction (though, menacingly, it appears to have been made to collect death rather than electricity). Shelby claims that it was made by Welsh-speaking Native peoples and has a warning to all surveyors scratched into its side.
Once back at the camp, Dixon and Zhang discuss the idea of a hollow Earth and the possible link to Jesuits and extraterrestrials. Soon, Captain Shelby begins speaking of the "third Surveyor". A mysterious figure that might be a "Surveyor of Surveyors" but who might be the Old Gentleman (whose domain of Hell has become so congested that he has began to consult lawyers) has began to shadow the party.
While a thief roots through the possessions of the logging party, he discovers papers stating that one of their number named Stig is an agent of a higher power (which Dixon dubs "Swedish Jacobites"). Upon being brought before Shelby to answer for this, Stig claims that he is a non-Swedish mercenary hired by the Swedish government (who were, according to him, the first European power to settle America) to help their claims upon America. Despite this, he is allowed to stay with the party as they travel further and further west. After they encounter "the Waters all run to the Westward". After an encounter with hillbillies and a rough storm, the party encounters a settler named Zepho Beck who has been inflicted with an unusual form of lycanthropy. Instead of turning into a wolf, he turns into a beaver (dubbed Kastoranthrophy by Professor Voam). The party decides to host an event pitting Stig and Zepho against each other to see which is better than logging. Before this event can finish, an eclipse looms overhead and Zepho returns back into a human.
Hearing that Zepho might sue the astronomers, Captain Zhang discusses an ancient Chinese tale of two astronomers (named Hsi and Ho) who escaped execution due to a missed prediction and became rich after literally falling into the estate of a wealthy lord. While the surveyors resume their expedition, Zhang discusses the missing eleven days and the birth of Christ with them.
As 1767 (which is said to be the last year of the surveying party on the line) begins, the surveyors hear a tale about the first European murder on American soil from Stig. They then begin to hear ghosts in the wind and encounter a party of disparate people (including Armand and his Duck) at a barn-raising before arriving in the town of Cumberland - which they find to be a nigh-lawless town. While there, they visit the house of one Thomas Cresap and hear from him of his service in "Cresap's War". While still at Cresap's house, Mason attempts to learn of the fate of the Learned English Dog from Cresap's dog. While the dog does not respond to him, it does understand his questions.
On the orders of Sir William Johnson, a party of Natives is appended to the surveying party. According to the Natives, the party will soon encounter a mystical "Warrior-Path" that they will not be able to cross and that will end their expedition. They also state that, in the East, there are fields of massive vegetables (including crops of tobacco that grow as high as redwood trees) and soon encounter massive fields of tomatoes and beets, that might be the remnants of a race of giants.
After learning of a law that possibly illegalizes surveying, Mason and Dixon release most of their party but keep the retinue of Natives (along with a few other party-members). While taking a ferry across the Youghiogheny River Lake, Mason and Dixon listen to its nigh-Charonian ferryman discuss ghostly fish and the various tragedies that have befallen him and America. Shortly after crossing the River Lake, Mason and Dixon notice that Vaucanson's Duck is still following them. Though they are (seemingly) able to trap it on their line using a wooden decoy of a duck, a more pressing issue rears its head - the rapidly approaching end of the line (in a very literal sense). Two members of the party are killed by a falling tree and the Warrior-Path looms as Native tribes become intent observers of Mason and Dixon. Soon, the party reaches the Path.
Upon reaching the Warrior-Path, Mason and Dixon discover to cross the path in the middle of the night without their party. While crossing the border, the two experience various extremely unusual (and possibly delusional) states. Upon reaching a nearby river, they find a party of Natives who have just arrived from scalping Lord Lepton - and have his Lancaster County rifle and scalp to prove it. Upon discovering this, the two surveyors decide to turn to the east and encounter Timothy Tox (author of the epic poem Pennsylvaniad, which is quoted somewhat frequently within the narrative) during this eastward voyage.
With the surveying of the Line now complete and the two surveyors now in Delaware, Mason and Dixon are left to pen out a map of their territory - something both are somewhat hesitant to do. While working on the map, Mason notices that Dixon's stylized compass resembles the fleur de lis (which Dixon refuses to change). Once the two finish work on the map, they decide to stay in America for a year and work on various other surveying jobs. During this time, Dixon begins to consider staying in America for the rest of his life and the two surveyors reflect on the practice of slavery across the world.
Having completed a job surveying a meridian-line, the two surveyors travel to Baltimore. Dixon notices an extremely cruel slave-driver berating his slaves and first accosts him before beating him in the street and taking his whip. Dixon promises to kill the slave-driver if he ever meets him again. The two surveyors decide to depart America and travel to New York. While on the way to New York, the two surveyors meet Captain Zhang and Mason is visited by his ghostly wife once again. In New York, the surveyors find that the gang of thieves that they both encountered have left the city. While on the docks, they are accosted by a stranger before boarding their ship.
Though this seems to be the definitive ending for Mason and Dixon's American voyage, it is not the only one. Another version (told through the lens of Italian opera) shows the two surveyors travelling further westward instead of turning east. While they plunge somewhat far into the wilderness and even meet a new companion, they decide to return to England after discovering the planet Uranus early. As they return across the line, they encounter various old "friends" who have been made extremely uncomfortable by their return. As they return to England, Dixon dreams of continuing onwards with the Line.
Part Three: Last Transit[]
Whichever version of the end of the voyage happened, it is closely followed by Mason and Dixon returning to London to speak with the Royal Society. Due to various reasons (including Mason's fears that his father will steal his children away from him and Dixon's wishes to stay in America), the two part ways and take separate commissions. While Dixon is sent to the North Cape in Norway on Transit-watching duties, Mason is sent to Ireland to observe the Transit of Venus. While in Ireland, Mason is convinced to help with a peat flow and (after trying to manifest her back into the world) is visited by the ghost of his wife once again. Once back in London, Mason is once again face-to-face with Maskelyne. While Mason initially thinks of Maskelyne as a rival, he soon learns that the position of Royal Astronomer has been greatly weakened. Maskelyne sends Mason to Scotland - and towards a meeting with Dixon.
While travelling to Scotland, Mason visits his fellow surveyor (who has been kept from travelling by a case of gout). While fishing and drinking, the two hint at a relationship stronger than friendship after Mason discusses being trapped in the hold of a ship carrying dead sheep. Dixon then recounts his travels to North Cape and an inner world - possibly the same inner world that Stig came from. Before leaving, Mason promises to visit his friend once again. While in Scotland, Mason briefly meets with Samuel Johnson and his biographer James Boswell.
When Mason next visits Dixon, he discovers that his old friend has just been married and is still suffering from gout. While he still wishes to visit America, his illness and the death of his mother have held him behind and forced him to subsist off of England's dependence on coal. Mason has also remarried and has recently fathered a son - who shares a disturbing resemblance to his father. The two surveyors share various dreams about performing in front of an audience before being visited by a dog that both assume is the Learnèd English Dog. Though the dog is seemingly mute, it speaks to them before it leaves - saying that it will see them when they both meet again.
After learning of Dixon's death, his fellow surveyor departs with his son Doctor Isaac (named after Newton) to a pilgrimage to Dixon's grave. While on this pilgrimage, the two spend a night at a haunted pub. Upon reaching the grave, Mason sights a cat lurking around the grave but fails to see any dog, Learned English or not. As the years pass and a new planet is discovered, Mason finally lets his rival Maskelyne "have it" while Maskelyne's fortunes within the Royal Society have waned. At some point after this, Mason departs for America for reasons which can only be vaguely guessed by everyone else in his life. Before his death, Mason is visited by Dr. Franklin (whom Mason rants at, believing Franklin to be at the center of various observations of Bradley's) while Mason's second wife wishes for her husband to return to England. Unfortunately for her, Mason dies before this can happen. While Mary plans to return to England, Mason and Rebekah's sons reminisce on how they always wanted to go to America with their father.
Notes[]
- Work on Mason & Dixon began shortly after Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow was published. This meant that the novel spent around twenty-five years for Pynchon to write the novel. Presumably while Mason & Dixon was still being written, Pynchon's Slow Learner and Vineland were published.
- Mason & Dixon is split into three parts that are further split into 78 "episodes". Though this is similar to Gravity's Rainbow (which is split into four parts which are further split into several segments), these segments are not numbered within Gravity's Rainbow.
- The Jesuit carriage from Episode 35 may be a reference to the TARDIS from Doctor Who, though this might be a coincidence.
Author's continuity[]
- An ancestor of recurring character Pig Bodine is featured. Another ancestor is seen in Against the Day.
rest to be added
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against the Day | Thomas Pynchon | 2006 | Another epic historical novel by the same author |
| Christmas on a Rational Planet | Lawrence Miles | 1996 | A postmodernist historical novel set in a vaguely similar time period and location (specifically 1790s New York state) |
| The Sot-Weed Factor | John Barth | 1960 | A postmodernist historical novel set in a vaguely similar time period and location (late 17th century Maryland) |
| Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West | Cormac McCarthy | 1985 | A postmodernist historical novel set in the wilderness of America with an unusual prose style |
| Speaks the Nightbird | Robert McCammon | 2002 | A historical novel set in a vaguely similar time period and location (late 17th century, the Carolinas) |
| Baudolino | Umberto Eco | 2000 | A historical novel being related by an unreliable narrator |
| The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 1850 | A historical novel set in a vaguely similar time period and location (middle 17th century Boston) |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel García Márquez | 1967 | A novel about a developing culture in the Americas. |
| Quicksilver | Neal Stephenson | 2003 | A postmodernist novel set in a similar time period (late 17th century) |
| Drawing the Line | Edwin Danson | 2000 | A book on Mason and Dixon's surveys |
| Forth to the Wilderness | Dale Van Every | 1961 | A book detailing the beginnings of the American wilderness |
| Undaunted Courage | Stephen E. Ambrose | 1997 | A book on the expedition of Lewis and Clark |
| Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift | 1726 | A novel from a similar time period to the events of this novel that details expeditions to strange and unusual lands |
| Memories of the Ford Administration | John Updike | 1992 | A historical novel narrated by an easily-distracted narrator |
| Lemprière's Dictionary | Lawrence Norfolk | 1991 | A postmodernist historical novel set in around the same time period (the 1780s) and released around the same time |
| Unconquered | Neil H. Swanson | 1947 | A historical novel from the same time period (the 1760s), featuring Mason and Dixon |
| Blackrobe | Robert E. Wall | 1981 | A historical novel set in a similar location (Canada) that focuses on Natives and Jesuits |
| Chesapeake | James A. Michener | 1978 | A historical novel set in a similar location (the Chesapeake Bay area) |
| Travels | William Bartram | 1791 | A book detailing travels within America written around the same time as the book is set within |
| Barrow's Boys | Fergus Fleming | 1998 | A book detailing historical travels to the ends of the Earth |
| Libra | Don DeLillo | 1988 | A historical novel featuring various historical figures |
| True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Carey | 2000 | A historical novel with an unusual prose style |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads
| Works of Thomas Pynchon | ||
|
Early works (Collected in Slow Learner) | ||