Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 66: 633-645

2007-07-23T19:14:23Z

Ctsats: /* Page 634 */ Saga of the Greenlanders

==Page 633==
''''' "To Thorfinn Karlsefni's Settlement at Hop [...] None but Gudrig ever saw the woman" ''''' 
The excerpt comes almost word by word from ''Grœnlendinga saga'' or ''The saga of the Greenlanders'' ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C5%93nlendinga_saga Wikipedia entry]) which, along with the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', are the two main literary sources of information for the Norse exploration of North America.

==Page 634==

'''''this first Act of American murder, and the collapse of Vineland the Good''''' 
cf ''Vineland'', of course. Especially echoes the scene on page 322, where Zoyd is planning to "harbor in Vineland, Vineland the Good".

Vineland was the name given to North America by the Vikings. It was named so because of the wild grapes they found there. ... With the abandonment of Greenland, needed supplies no long made their way to the way station point in North America, a place known as Vineland, so named for the Vikings claims of finding wild grapes there. Major climate change has happened since.

They had 'conflicts' with the Native Americans who lived there, perhaps the first acts of American murder? The conflict was probably short-lived while the commerce went on for 500 years. adapted from 'Vineland'
[[http://www.american.edu/TED/ice/vineland.htm]]

Chapter 8: 77-86

2007-05-05T21:50:29Z

Ctsats: page format

==Page 77==

'''Etesian''' 
Prevailing northerly monsoonal winds in the summer and early fall

'''not whistle''' 
Such a fun "vice" was not allowed on ship.

'''Torpedick''' 
Like an eel.

'''''Bandieten''''' 
Armed thieves in a band of thieves.

'''Pumplenose''' 
???

==Page 78==

'''monitory''' 
Conveying an admonition or a warning

'''the Watch''' 
Closely observing an area as in a neighborhood watch.

'''his Fell''' 
hide: the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

'''virid''' 
Etymology: From the Latin viridis, from virere ‘to be green’. 
Pronunciation:/'vɪrɪd/ 
Noun,Singular: virid; Plural,virids 
virid (plural virids):(colour) a bright green colour 
virid colour: Adjective: virid, more virid, most virid 
(colour) having a bright green colour 
1977: His protruberant eyeballs were veined with red like certain kinds of rare marble. He urged me to meditate upon the virid line of the whirling universe. — Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve

'''''Voorhuis''''' 
Dutch: fronthouse

==Page 79==

'''"Tell me, what'd I say?"''' 
Perhaps a reference to Ray Charles' 1959 hit song, "What'd I say," which features this line. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What'd_I_Say Wikipedia entry]

'''lock'd his front door''' 
(Traditional?)

'''Fumulus''' 
fumulus—A contraction of the words fume and cumulus, indicating water-droplet clouds that form within the top of rising plumes from smokestacks.

==Page 80==

'''''Stoep''''' 
Entered English as 'stoop' in 1789.

'''Theater of the Japanese''' 
Called Noh. See wikipedia. Here is the relevancy for the text:When hand props other than fans are used, they are usually introduced or retrieved by stage attendants who fulfill a similar role to stage crew in contemporary theater. Like their Western counterparts, stage attendants for Noh traditionally dress in black, but unlike in Western theater they may appear on stage during a scene, or may remain on stage during an entire performance, in both cases in plain view of the audience.

'''the Range of their Desires''' 
Must be compared, it would seem, to the name of Part 1 of ATD: Light Over the Ranges.

'''Younkers''' 
youn·ker: Pronunciation: 'y&[ng]-k&r 
Etymology: Dutch: jonker--young nobleman 
Noun
1 : a young man
2 : CHILD, YOUNGSTER Merriam-Webster Dict.

'''delegated the sighing''' 
Jet will not sigh over the romantic overtures; her sisters will.

==Page 81==

'''Jesuit part''' 
his penis, that is part of his lap, where the Guitar is? A(nother) small penis joke with an aware allusion to "Jesuitical", arguing small points?

==Page 82==

'''''lengkua''''' 
the word should be lengkuas, a Malay word for the spice whose Linnean name is Alpinia galanga. Now, this site has a slew of names for it: siamese ginger, siamese galanga, java galangal, greater galangal, el galangal, el adkham, hang dou kou, stor kalanga, galanga, galanga de l'inde, laos, galgant, kulanjan, naukyo, lenkuas, galanga maior, kha, ka, riêng, großer galgant, herbe indienne, da liang jiang, grand galanga, galanga majeur. But the form galangal seems to be the current English name, used alongside galanga. OED shows this word {galanga] in Chaucer
Is Pynchon's lengkua a simple mistake or typo for lengkuas, or could it be a legitimate (though rare) alternate form? I have too much respect for Pynchon and his love of variant forms to assume the former, but I don't see much evidence for the latter. From a linguist online.

'''Bilimbi pickles''' 
AVERRHOA Bilimbi, or Vilimbipuli or Irumpanpuli (in Malayalam), is a fruit seen in the backyard of most homes in Kerala. Unlike other fruits, it has not found a place in the market or been used in the food preservation industry.[2003 article] It belongs to Oxalidaceae, the sorrel family, and is a small pinnate-leaved tree cultivated in the tropics. The fruit resembles a small green cucumber and grows on the trunk and the older branches. The fruit is about two to five centimetres long and acidic in nature with a sour taste. The flowers are tiny five-petalled and maroon.

The fruit is a rich source of Vitamin C. It fights cholesterol, and is used as a tonic and a laxative. Syrup made from the fruit is used in French Guyana to cure ailments arising from jaundice. The fruit is also known to stop internal bleeding in the stomach.

The fruit was hitherto known to be used only in curries and in the making of pickles. 

Bilimbi pickle 

Ingredients:
Small or medium sized Bilimbi cut lengthwise 1/4 kg
Green chillies 5
Garlic 10 lobes
Ginger 2 pieces about one inch in length
Wheat flour 1/4 dsp (desert spoon — 3 tsps)
Gram flour 1/4 dsp
Chilli powder 1 1/2 dsp
Mustard and fenugreek 1/4 tsp each
Asafoetida powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Vinegar 2 oz.
Gingelly oil 2 to 3 oz.

Method:

Add a little salt to the bilimbi and keep in the sun for two days, in a wide-mouthed, shallow earthen vessel. Pour the oil in a deep vessel, and season with the mustard, fenugreek and curry leaves. Then sauté the garlic and ginger after ground to a fine paste. Add the chillies and sauté. (Heat the wheat and gram flour and keep aside). Lower the fire and add the chilli powder and asafoetida. Add the salt and vinegar and bring to a boil. Then add the bilimbi and the fried powders. Remove from fire and bottle when cool.

'''''Bobotie''''' 
???

'''''Frikkadel''''' 
???

==Page 84==

'''Satay''' 
sa·tay also sa·té or sa·te (sä'tā)
n.
A dish of southeast Asia consisting of strips of marinated meat, poultry, or seafood grilled on skewers and dipped in peanut sauce.
[Malay saté, satai or Indonesian sate, both perhaps of Tamil origin.]

'''Rakhman''' 
A popular indonesian name which seems to be used jokingly.

'''even better, as Eve''' 
(No missing rib? Gets to be disobedient?)

==Page 85==

'''B-st-rd''' 
Who's censoring here? A convention in 18th century literature.

'''a Tun short... law''' 
Tun:large cask especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 butts or 252 gals
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - Definition in context

'''Fence-Runner''' 
Not in OED? He means surveyer, insinuating that all surveyers do is measure property lines.

==Page 86==

'''recreations including running ''Amok''''' 
Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok (also spelled amuck or amuk), is derived from the Malay word mengamuk, meaning "to go mad with rage" (uncontrollable rage). In typical cases, a man who has shown no previous sign of anger and no inclination to resort to violence will take up a weapon in a sudden frenzy and attempt to kill everyone he meets. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the amok-runner being killed by bystanders. The contrast between what was seen as the normal placid character of Malays and a sudden outburst of frenzied violence played to Western perceptions of the 'irrational' East. Wikipedia

==Annotation Index==

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Chapter 6: 47-57

2007-05-05T21:47:33Z

Ctsats: page layout

==Page 47==

'''Interdiction at sea''' 
Interdiction: Authoritative prohibition 
A court order prohibiting a party from doing a certain activity
- interdict 
is a sequential process that includes surveillance of often broad ocean areas''' 

'''Skanderoon''' 
Iskenderun, Turkish port, eastern Mediterranean.

'''Loxodrome''' 
Line of constant compass bearing on the surface of the Earth. A parallel of latitude is a loxodrome, but most great-circle arcs are not (the exceptions being the Equator and every meridian).

==Page 48==

'''Caffeinist''' 
Anachronism (1830).

'''new Captain''' 
(Did the last one die of his wounds then?)

==Page 49==

'''Mustard-Grinder''' 
Mustarder: one who dealt in buying and selling mustard 
GRINDER: one who operates a ginding machine in any of several trades 
From Colonial Occupations, online.

==Page 53==

'''cheaply opiated Pint''' 
Yes, opium beer; cheap opium beer. Also in ATD.

'''Quantz Etude''' 
Johann Joachim Quantz (January 30, 1697–July 12, 1773) was a German flutist, flute maker and composer.
Quantz began his musical studies as a child with his uncle. He began to concentrate on the flute, performing more and more on the instrument. He gradually became known as the finest flautist in Europe, and toured France and England. He became flute teacher, flute maker and composer to Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) in 1740. He was an innovator in flute design, adding keys to the instrument to help with intonation (playing in tune), for example. 
Although Quantz wrote many pieces of music, mainly for the flute (including around 300 flute concertos), he is best known today as the author of Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversière zu spielen (1752), a treatise on flute playing. It is of great interest today as a source of information on performance practice and flute technique in the 18th century.

''Etude''' An etude (from the French word étude meaning "study") is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument.

==Page 54==

'''Enemas of... Coffee''' 
(Cf AtD)

'''Slow-Matches''' 
Slow match, or matchcord, is rope impregnated with nitrates to make it burn slowly, evenly, and reliably despite wind or rain. When the trigger was pulled, a lever applied the burning rope to the powder in the priming pan, thus firing the gun. This drawing illustrates a musketeer aiming his gun, with the slow match smouldering at both ends. For the first few hundred years of firearms, this was the only way to shoot them. 
From the Slow Match Website.

==Page 55==

'''Turk's Head''' 
A knot built on a cylinder (such as a rope) and having a woven appearance on the surface. Used decoratively or to create a grip. ''Ashley's Book of Knots'' (published in the 1940s, still in print) describes dozens of forms.

'''Matthew Walker''' 
A knot tied in the strands of a rope, forming a projection or knob. The Matthew Walker is generally tied in the middle of the rope; the strands are then laid up again to the end.

'''Jewel Block''' 
Naut.) block at the extremity of a yard, through which the halyard of a studding sail is rove.

==Page 56==

'''perfectly beneath us''' 
Astronomy 101 would have to flunk TRP-- anywhere in the Tropics the sun will be overhead on some days. At the Equator, only on the two equinoxes.

==Page 57==
'''attendant Inconvenience''' 
Again that word as in the H.M. S ship name and the airship in ATD. Here a meaning is more spelled out---others' wills and preferences which complicate one's fantasies of comeliness and willingness.

==Annotation Index==

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Chapter 5: 42-46

2007-05-05T21:46:46Z

Ctsats: page layout

==Page 42==

'''Him so strange...All that Coal-mining, I guess''' 
Actually they are referring to the Devil. The joke is that Mason is referring to God and Dixon thinks me means the Devil.

==Page 44==
'''As if....suggests an optical person''' 
Unmistakably akin to major themes in ATD.

==Annotation Index==

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Chapter 3: 14-29

2007-04-17T22:35:25Z

Ctsats: /* Page 19 */ Metempsychosis

==Page 14==

'''Spiritual Day-Book''' 
Day-Book = the daily written record of events

'''Day's Fatigue''' 
A kind of foreecho, so to speak, of a leitmotif of Against the Day. The working day against which, etc., etc. 
Extrapolating from a letter TRP wrote to his editor after V., in which he spoke of working on three books at the time, some people think he may have worked on his later works simultaneously---discretely simultaneously, of course, perhaps a little like another theme of ATD.

'''waking Traverse was done''' 
Traverse: Here are key definitions that might apply most to M & D: . 9. To survey by traverse 6. To look over carefully; examine.

NOUN: trav·erse ( trvrs, tr-vûrs) 8. A line established by sighting in surveying a tract of land.
1. A passing across, over, or through. 2. A route or path across or over. 3. Something that lies across, especially: a. An intersecting line; a transversal. 4. Something that obstructs and thwarts; an obstacle. American Heritage Dictionary.

Traverse is the main family name in ATD; Webb Traverse and his three generation family. There are a lot of associations, see any unabridged dictionary, AHD above is online; ATD and wikipedia.
All of the associations are worth looking up and reflecting on with Pynchon, especially as he seems to love the manifold associations, using it also in Vineland, where descendants of Webb live in America in the late 20th Century.

'''another Term in the Contract''' 
The social contract?--- with all attendant allusions to Rousseau, with whom the phrase might be most linked, and to many social/political philosophers? The rise of the contract. 
The major creators of the Constitution were reading many of these thinkers
during this period, of course.

Herein is the anti-city position stated, at least.
It shows that Mason only sees the danger and crowding of the city whilst Dixon is overcome by the marvel that is the result of the Contract.

==Page 15==

'''Wapping High Street''' 
The area was first settled by Saxons, from whom it takes its name (meaning literally "[the place of] Wæppa's people"). It developed along the embankment of the Thames, hemmed in by the river to the south and the now-drained Wapping Marsh to the north. This gave it a peculiarly narrow and constricted shape, consisting of little more than the axis of Wapping High Street and some north-south side streets. John Stow, the 16th century historian, described it as a "continual street, or a filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers."

'''Tyburn''' 
The village [of Tyburn] was notorious for centuries as the site of the Tyburn gallows, London's principal location for public executions by hanging. Executions took place at Tyburn from the 12th to the 18th century (with the prisoners processed from Newgate Prison in the City).
wikipedia, abridged.

'''Motrix''' 
Female motor. [http://books.google.com//books?q=motrix&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0&num=100 GoogleBooks]

==Page 16==

'''edging away''' 
Pynchonian cliche.

'''the forms of ''You''''' 
"You've" and "Your" from the preceding words.

==Page 17==

'''Ha-Ha''' 
Ha-ha (garden)
The ha-ha or sunken fence is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until closely approached. The ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is perpendicular and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed - making it in effect a sunken fence. The ha-ha is a feature in the landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman, the originator of the ha-ha, according to Horace Walpole (Walpole 1780) and by William Kent and was an essential component of the "swept" views of Capability Brown.
"The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without. " — Walpole, "Essay upon modern gardening" 
"The "ha ha" is a below-grade ditch, which acts as a fence. It is used in classical vista gardens where views are to be uninterrupted, and in zoos for direct viewing of large and potentially dangerous animals. It is also a defence for villagers again stock where the resources do not allow wire fences, but labour or a machine can be obtained. It is essentially a deep pit, dry or wet, with one steep wall faced by stone. it can be scaled to size for the species excluded." - Mollison, Bill. [http://www.amazon.com/PERMACULTURE-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015 Permaculture Designers Manual.]

'''Aristarchus''' 
Aristarchus (310 BC - c. 230 BC) was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, born on the island of Samos, in ancient Greece. He is considered the first person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, placing the Sun, not the Earth, at the center of the known universe (hence he is sometimes known as the "Greek Copernicus").

'''the other fellow''' 
Satan? No, not Satan.
isn't Dixon just rambling on a litst of Astronomers and can't remember some guy's name? I don't think he is referring to Satan here. 
Maybe Galileo? Copernicus? Tyco Brahe? I vote for one of the latter two--see wikipedia--or someone else, since Galileo seems harder to forget.

'''latest Eclipse''' 
[http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/calendar/eclipsecycles.htm A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles] 
Search 5,000 years of eclipses 
NASA eclipse home page 
International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Solar Eclipses 
Solar and Lunar Eclipse Image Gallery

==Page 18==

'''mirror'd Lanthorns''' 
'Lanthorn' is a mistaken variant of 'lantern'. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lanthorn&searchmode=none etym]

Not mistaken, just a choice of spelling; Shakespeare and many others used this form. --[[User:Volver|Volver]] 08:56, 9 January 2007 (PST)

'''Norfolk Terrier''' 
[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Norfolk%20Terrier&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi pix]

==Page 19==

'''''Ministerial''''' 
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a minister of religion or of the ministry. 2. Of or relating to administrative and executive duties and functions of government. 3. Law Of, relating to, or being a mandatory act or duty admitting of no personal discretion or judgment in its performance. 4. Acting or serving as an agent; instrumental. From the American Heritage Dictionary.

'''Where the Bee Sucks''' +
A song from Shakespeare's Tempest put to music by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_(composer) Robert Johnson.] [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/312.html lyrics.][http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/media/mp3/beeV.html listen.]

'''Integral of One over (Book) d (Book)''' 
Freshman calculus gag. The antiderivative or integral of the function 1/x is the function logarithm of x. Written (integral sign) 1/x dx = log x. Substitute (Book) for x. Answer: log (Book) = logbook.

'''Pistoles''' 
Coins. [http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=pistole+coin pix]

'''Gate-Ways to Futurity''' 
Another foreshadowing of a major plotline in ATD. And the next line is Pynchon thematic, again esp. to ATD. It's also thematic to those days of the age of reason.

'''Metempsychosis''' 
Greek for "Reincarnation".

==Page 20==

'''upstart Chapels''' 
upstart: Suddenly raised to a position of consequence. 2. Self-important; presumptuous. Amer Her Dict.

'''singing Catches''' 
Catch: Noun, definition: Music-- A canonic, often rhythmically intricate composition for three or more voices, popular especially in the 17th and 18th centuries.

==Page 21==

'''Fender-Belly''' 
Fender: a cushion hung on the side of a ship to protect it if it bumps into a wharf or so. Old tires now serve this function. Fender-Belly has such a cushion in front.

'''Coconut-Ale''' 
A Beer with the taste of coconut; described as a "killer beer" online.

'''Macaronis''' 
A British and American subculture inspired by the fashion of continential Europe eps. that of Italy. The term comes from the Itallian "maccherone" which means "boorish fool" but was taken on by the British to mean over the top fashionable.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_%28fashion%29 Macaroni]
They would often speek in an affected manner and mix latin into their speech.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronic_verse Macaronic Verse]

'''Lunarians''' 
A Lunarian is an member of the movement of astronomers who felt that the solution to the Logitude prize lay in the development of lunar tables describing the moon of Jupiter. Famous Lunarians included Nevil Maskelyne.

'''Hostlers''' 
Singular...One who is employed to tend horses, especially at an inn. 2. One who services a large vehicle or engine, such as a locomotive. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman hostiler. American Heritage Dictionary

'''Glim-Jacks''' 
glim jack. Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose. 
A link-boy. Cant. A link-boy (or link boy or linkboy) was a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians at night. Linkboys were common in London in the days before street lighting.
The term derives from "link", a term for the cotton tow that formed the wick of the torch. Links are mentioned in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1, as Falstaff teases Bardolph about the shining redness of his face: 
"Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern." (Act III, scene 3) 
Sir Joshua Reynolds painted Cupid as a Link Boy and another appears in the first plate of William Hogarth's The Four Stages of Cruelty. In thieves' cant, a linkboy was known as a "Glym Jack" ("glym" meant "light") or a "moon-curser" (as their services would not be required on a moonlit night). Employing a linkboy could be dangerous, as some would lead their clients to dark alleyways, where they could be beset by footpads[1] Wikipedia

==Page 22==

'''The L.E.D. blinks, shivers, nods in a resign'd way.'''

L.E.D., here the "Learned English Dog", is also shorthand for "light-emitting diode", which do blink on a regular basis. Perhaps a reference to the dog being like a computer?

'''praeternatural... supernatural''' 
Praeternatural: Beyond or different from what is natural, or according to the regular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal

'''state of holy Insanity''' 
the second time an Eastern religious practice is linked to insanity. Rev.
Cherrycoke, page 10. Ecstasy or real madness or both?

''''Macaroni Italian Style'''' 
[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Macaroni+Italian+Style 454 hits] 

Macaroni, Italian Style
1 cup macaroni
11/2 cups scalded milk
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped cold boiled ham

Break macaroni in one-inch pieces and cook in boiling salted water, drain, and reheat in sauce made of butter, flour, and milk, to which is added cheese. As soon as cheese is melted, season with salt and paprika, and turn on to a serving dish. Sprinkle with ham, and garnish with parsley.....From the earliest Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1918. Still, many years later than the time of M & D, but the first cookbooks just collected
the most common recipes.

==Page 23==

'''circle of Absence''' 
???

'''fathom''' 
Six feet.

'''Bahf''' 
Bath.

'''"a British Dog, Sir. No one owns me"'''. 
Cf. Rev Cherrycoke, page 10.

'''Fabulous Jellows''' 
???

'''a-lop''' 
Lopsided. (One OED cite from 1865)

==Page 24==

'''the Point''' 
???

'''Welsh Main''' 
"...in which eight pairs were matched, the eight victors being again paired, then four, and finally the last surviving pair" [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Cock-fighting EB11-cockfighting]

==Page 25==

'''Fulhams''' 
???

'''Three-Threads''' 
???

'''Euphroe''' 
???

'''Hepsie''' 
Diminutive of [http://www.cutebabyname.com/hepsie.html Hephzibah.]Mother of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh Manasseh] in the Old Testiment.

'''smoaks''' 
understands..."gets"

==Page 26==

''''pert''' 
Shortened form of 'apert' (open, bold).

==Page 28==

'''share quarters''' 
Quite possible Mauve and Hepsie are the same girl.

'''Mauve''' 
The colour Mauve wasn't discovered until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauve 1830s.] However [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malva "Malva"] (the source for the word)or "Mallow" was one of the oldest known plants.

'''H.M.S. Inconvenience''' 
The airship in Against the Day is called "The Inconvenience".

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

Main Page

2007-03-28T14:52:28Z

Ctsats: /* External Links */

[[Image:MD_cover_sm.jpg|300px|right]]<big>'''Welcome to the ''Mason & Dixon'' Wiki'''</big>

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This is the newly created Wiki for [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''Mason & Dixon'', joining the wikis for Pynchon's other "big" novels, [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Gravity's Rainbow''] and [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Against the Day'']. We will soon be adding wikis for ''V.'' (the guide is currently hosted at [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/v/ ThomasPynchon.com]), as well as ''Vineland'', ''The Crying of Lot 49'' and ''Slow Learner'', so that registered users of this wiki can create pages and make changes for those works' guides.

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==How to Use this Wiki==

There are two major ways to use this wiki. The first is the '''''Mason & Dixon'' Alphabetical Index''', used to keep track of the myriad characters, real and imagined, as well as events, arcana, and lots of other stuff. The second is the '''Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page''', which allows the reader to look up and contribute allusions and references while reading the book, in a convenient and spoiler-free manner. These two sections are so far almost entirely different, but we're working on integrating them.

Apart from those, it's up to you!

==Alphabetical Index==
Information on the characters, events, and everything else in ''Mason & Dixon'', organized alphabetically:{{MD_Alpha_Nav}}

==Page by Page Annotations==
{{MD PbP}}

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* [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/ The Modern Word Pynchon page]
: [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_m%26d.html The Modern Word page on Mason & Dixon]
* [http://z11.invisionfree.com/thefictionalwoods/index.php The Fictional Woods] - a Pynchon forum
* [http://pynchonoid.blogspot.com/ Pynchonoid Blog]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_%26_Dixon Wikipedia ''Mason & Dixon'' page]

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