I owned Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 for close to a year before reading it. I’ve been uncertain about the “post-modernists,” unsure as to whether or not I was ready for the ride. I’m pleased to say that the experience wasn’t altogether unbearable, and that I may in fact be ready to try for some bigger fish (i.e. Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, Gaddis’s J R, and Gass’s Omensetter’s Luck).
Lot 49 is a wild ride. It is the story of Oedipa Maas, who becomes the executor of the estate of her former lover Pierce Inverarity. She travels to San Narciso, Inverarity’s hometown, to carry out the process of receiving the estate. What she discovers are some hilarious and eccentric characters, small societies previously unheard of, and a conspiracy against America known as the Trystero…or does she?
In Lot 49, Pynchon delivers a linear (basically) narrative rife with ambiguity. The reader is never certain whether Oedipa is really uncovering a conspiracy, dreaming up circumstance, or is the recipient of a massive joke played by Pierce Inverarity. Oedipa (taking her name from Oedipus Rex–a most famous truth seeker), never ceases in her effort to uncover the truth. However, Pynchon’s message is that our world is complex, ambiguous, and uncertain, and that the more truth we uncover, the less we know.
The book is more difficult to read than the average novel. However, it is a slim 152 pages, and every word is geared towards Pynchon’s purpose. I encourage readers to step out of their comfort zones, stick with it, and read this book in its entirety. You will be a richer person for doing so.
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