A Mason & Dixon Companion

by Brett Biebel

Mason & Dixon might be Thomas Pynchon’s most human book. Its main characters are richly drawn, and they center the narrative. Yet the novel is also packed with historical allusions and an eighteenth-century vernacular that some readers may find difficult to navigate. A "Mason & Dixon" Companion offers this navigation line by line, unpacking Pynchon’s puns, his many references, and his pet themes. Brett Biebel provides a contextual map, episode-by-episode summaries, and page-by-page annotations explaining allusions, defining obscure vocabulary, and illuminating the book’s major themes. The goal is to help readers work their way through a difficult yet remarkably rewarding novel from one of American literature’s most significant writers. In a voice that’s both relaxed and informed, the Companion illuminates what Harold Bloom called “Pynchon’s late masterpiece.” It crystallizes the prescience of Mason & Dixon, situating the novel within Pynchon’s broader oeuvre, while being fun to read in its own right.

Genres: Nonfiction

308 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2024

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgot to add this! I used Biebel's companion on my last read of M&D (which was my third read through the book) as a preparation for my analysis. Biebel gave me permission to use and cite his work for said analysis.

Typically, scholarly works on Pynchon miss the forest for the trees and largely focus on the stuff that shouldn't be focused on. They'll delve into something like the weird mechanical duck in this book, compare it to another mechanized entity in his other book, and then briefly analyze the concept of mechanization without taking the broader picture and delving into what the implications of mechanized nature means. Biebel, however, is one of the few scholars on Pynchon who actually delves into these ideas. He does it briefly, but that's what makes this companion so good. It puts those specific and broad ideas in your head, talks about them a little without going to in depth, and then lets you solve the rest. This is the Weisenburger Companion's equivalent for M&D. A must buy if you ever plan on rereading M&D, or even reading it for the first time.

[Joe Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with all of Pynchon's books, Mason & Dixon has a lot of historical and scientific allusions, many from the 18th Century. So this book is an essential enhancement to any rereading (I like to read his novels the first time through on my own, then look for reference when rereading ), which this book with its outrageous humor and implicit commentary on 20th Century America, is great for. The Companion also contains a fair amount of discussion of themes and linkages with his other books, all in a handy and searchable format, without clotted academic jargon.

[Differengenera · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very useful companion I'd recommend to everyone interested in reading what is probably his most difficult book. a lot of detail on the imperial, colonial aspects, in a way that underlines that this is, like all his other books, fundamentally about the kinds of compromise hapless Greeks can broach with The Man for the purposes of their own comfort

[ASC Library]

813.95 PynB