I had my Boswell, once," Mason tells Boswell, "Dixon and I. We had a joint Boswell. Preacher nam'd Cherrycoke. Scribbling ev'rything down, just like you, Sir. Have you," twirling his Hand in Ellipses,- "you know, ever . . . had one yourself? If I'm not prying." "Had one what?" "Hum . . . a Boswell, Sir,- I mean, of your own. Well you couldn't very well call him that, being one yourself,- say, a sort of Shadow ever in the Room who has haunted you, preserving your ev'ry spoken remark,- " "Which else would have been lost forever to the great Wind of Oblivion,- think," armsweep south, "as all civiliz'd Britain gathers at this hour, how much shapely Expression, from the titl'd Gambler, the Barmaid's Suitor, the offended Fopling, the gratified Toss-Pot, is simply fading away upon the Air, out under the Door, into the Evening and the Silence beyond. All those voices. Why not pluck a few words from the multitudes rushing toward the Void of forgetfulness?
( Thomas Pynchon )
[ Mason & Dixon ]
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