Pynchon Wiki: Mason & Dixon

Welcome to the Mason & Dixon Wiki

If you wish to contact us or suggest edits, use this Contact page.

This is the Wiki for Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon.

Besides using the Alphabetical Index and the page-by-page annotation, you can take a look at Mason & Dixon covers or read the reviews.

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:

Mason & Dixon Alpha Guide
A·B·C·D·E·F·G·H·I·J·K·L·M·N·O·P·Q·R·S·T·U·V·W·XYZ TOP↑


Page by Page Annotations

One:
Latitudes and Departures

1: 5-11, 2: 12-13, 3: 14-29, 4: 30-41, 5: 42-46, 6: 47-57, 7: 58-76, 8: 77-86, 9: 87-93, 10: 94-104, 11: 105-115, 12: 116-124, 13: 125-145, 14: 146-157, 15: 158-166, 16: 167-174, 17: 175-182, 18: 183-189, 19: 190-198, 20: 199-206, 21: 207-214, 22: 215-227, 23: 228-237, 24: 238-245, 25: 245-253


Two:
America

26: 257-265, 27: 266-274, 28: 275-288, 29: 289-295, 30: 296-301, 31: 302-314, 32: 315-326, 33: 327-340, 34: 341-348, 35: 349-361, 36: 362-370, 37: 371-381, 38: 382-390, 39: 391-398, 40: 399-409, 41: 410-421, 42: 422-435, 43: 436-439, 44: 440-447, 45: 448-451, 46: 452-459, 47: 460-465, 48: 466-475, 49: 476-483, 50: 484-490, 51: 491-498, 52: 499-510, 53: 511-524, 54: 525-541, 55: 542-553, 56: 554-561, 57: 562-569, 58: 570-574, 59: 575-584, 60: 585-596, 61: 597-607, 62: 608-617, 63: 618-622, 64: 623-628, 65: 629-632, 66: 633-645, 67: 646-657, 68: 658-664, 69: 665-677, 70: 678-686, 71: 687-693, 72: 694-705, 73: 706-713

Three:
Last Transit

74: 717-732, 75: 733-743, 76: 744-748, 77: 749-757, 78: 758-773

Library of Congress Historical Resources

The history of Mason and Dixon's Line (1855) by John H. B. Latrobe (John Hazlehurst Boneval) (1803-1891): The story of the demarcation of the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania that became the dividing line between free and slave states. Latrobe was a lawyer, inventor, and speaker; he was also president of the American Colonization Society (1853-90), founder of the Maryland Historical Society, and a central figure in the movement to colonize the Republic of Liberia. Library of Congress

A Plan of the boundary lines between the province of maryland and the three lower counties of delaware

Featured Quote

"As soon as I finished, I wanted to (a) immediately re-read it; (b) enroll in a one semester course devoted to nothing but its study; or ( c) stick it on the shelf and have nothing to do with it again. “Mason & Dixon” is a great novel; and I say this without having understood what seemed any more than, oh, ten percent."

Pynchon Wiki Help and Contributor Guidelines

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We have a few conventions we ask that you follow:

  • When creating a new page, if its information pertains to one (and only one) specific Pynchon novel, please categorize it with the appropriate identifier. For example, a page pertaining to Gravity's Rainbow, should use the syntax [[Category:GR]].
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External Links

Reading Notes/Guides

Gallery

Below are some of the images you will find on the Mason & Dixon Wiki.

Thanks, and enjoy...