Analysis of Mason & Dixon, Part 1 - Chapter 16: The Cheese-Rolling Festival, Lusting After Susannah Peach, Saved by Rebekah, Back at Sandy Bay, Mason Leaves Maskelyne
"...Performances, of musick distinctly not British,— Viennese perhaps, Hungarian, even Moorish” is a particularly interesting turn, even by Pynchonian standards. Each new term in the series marks a musical step away from strict Western European Practice Period vocabulary—new scale tones and modalities, new and odd-metered rhythms, new formal constructs.
"Laws are therefore written not by those who would most benefit from a lawful society, but by those who own these people’s wages...Prisons confine any Preterite so brave to break these laws. All these metaphors of death stem from something as ridiculous as a massive block of cheese, rolling down the hill in all its unnecessary enormity, ready and willing to crush anything beneath its rind."
Really well said. I was so impressed with the sheer poetry of these sentences that I felt compelled to comment.
Thank you. That was one of my favorite portions of this chapter/essay. It's hard to maintain some semblance of good prose while writing these every week, but I'm glad the attempt doesn't go unnoticed.
It's such a funny passage. The part where Mason thinks its the moon is hilarious. I like to believe that independent of Mason or Rebekah's attendance, the cheese wheel was real.
"...Performances, of musick distinctly not British,— Viennese perhaps, Hungarian, even Moorish” is a particularly interesting turn, even by Pynchonian standards. Each new term in the series marks a musical step away from strict Western European Practice Period vocabulary—new scale tones and modalities, new and odd-metered rhythms, new formal constructs.
Good observation. I didn't noticed that actually. And I think it parallels with each being a step away from Western cultural norms as a whole.
"Laws are therefore written not by those who would most benefit from a lawful society, but by those who own these people’s wages...Prisons confine any Preterite so brave to break these laws. All these metaphors of death stem from something as ridiculous as a massive block of cheese, rolling down the hill in all its unnecessary enormity, ready and willing to crush anything beneath its rind."
Really well said. I was so impressed with the sheer poetry of these sentences that I felt compelled to comment.
Thank you. That was one of my favorite portions of this chapter/essay. It's hard to maintain some semblance of good prose while writing these every week, but I'm glad the attempt doesn't go unnoticed.
Also the Octuple-Gloucester is really funny and one of Pynchon's various "Could you imagine?" relishes.
Notice that the record of Rebekah's presence there is questioned, but not the Octuple-Gloucester itself!
It's such a funny passage. The part where Mason thinks its the moon is hilarious. I like to believe that independent of Mason or Rebekah's attendance, the cheese wheel was real.