Communication and Postmodernism of The Crying of Lot 49

Keywords：Thomas Pynchon， English literature， postmodernism， communication

Abstract： Thomas Pynchon is the most remarkable master of postmodern literature， creating paranoiac and chaotic world overflowing with information and messages. Communication is mostly needed to discovery the truth of the world and more important to develop one him-self， but which is the right course and what is the reality， to which Pynchon leaves an open end for interpretation.

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon， regarded by many readers and critics asthe most highly acclaimed writers of the post-World War II period of American literature， one of the finest contemporary authors. He is a recipient of the National Book Award， and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. As one of the most important postmodern authors， Pynchon uses elements from detective fiction， science fiction， and war fiction， songs， pop culture references， and most of all， obscure and fictional history， involving readers by a great degree.

Published in 1966， The Crying of Lot 49 （TCL 49） is the second novel of Thomas Pynchon， the shortest of Pynchon’s novels and considered by many as his most accessible book， recognized as a vital postmodern classic. As "one of the most deceptive， as well as one of the most brilliant short novels to have appeared since the last war" （Tanner， 1982） TCL49， has been subject to criticism for the past five decades for reasons as noisy as the novel. Some critics feel that the work is meaningless and impossible to interpret， as well as others think it very cohesive， and even possessed by a set of ethical directives. While some critics， as J. Grant remarks， have worked to find a functional interface between book and reader. The book is an exploring of communication， of a highly entropic system related to communication theory， the correlation between chaos and information. Following the steps of the heroine， we will find as chaos increases， more information is achieved， but it also becomes harder to understand. On the contrary， as the volume of information increases， the likelihood of successfully interpreting the meaning decreases. The onus of separating distractions from essential meaning and achieve effective communication are not only on the heroine， but also on the readers.

1. Review of the Crying of Lot 49

The reading of TCL49 reading itself is like walking in a room of mirror， the may be reality， the simulacrum of reality， the dead end， are constantly circling in on reflections. Thomas Pynchon is the most remarkable master of paranoia in the destabilizing process， his insight was to remove paranoia from the elaborate scenarios and insert it into the banalities of everyday suburban life. Readers could find paranoia had become quotidian for the characters， and even part of the atmosphere of modern America.

OedipaMaas， a California housewife， becomes entangled in a convoluted historical mystery after been designated as co-executor of estate by his newly died ex-boyfriend， Pierce Inverarity. Confused but curious， Oedipa starts to carry out her duties. She soon discovers that things are not what they seem. While sorting through Pierce’s tangled financial affairs， Oedipa sees a symbol that she later learns is to represent a muted post horn.

On the trip to Pierce’s land， Oedipa mentions the word “Tristero”， a word that fascinates Oedipa. Step by step， Oedipa starts to realize that she is uncovering a big mystery. After her meeting with a Berkeley professor John Nefastis， Oedipa encounters the muted post horn symbol almost everywhere over the Bay area and finds a facility named W.A.S.T.E， those leading her to believe that she may be hallucinating. She is desperate for communication， but her doctor has gone crazy and her husband Mucho has become addicted to LSD， making communication with them almost impossible. She pieces together the history of the Tristero system， but finds it’s a dead end that she is following. Increasingly alone， Oedipa realizes that every route leading to the Tristero also leads to the Inverarity Estate， and suspect that she has stumbled upon a conspiracy， a vast， perhaps global conspiracy that involves Inverarity， his lawyer…and maybe even her husband and analyst.

TCL49 can be read as an intellectual thriller or a postmodern mystery， with consistent narrative and rapid plot， but if you break the surface level during the reading， it may lead to much frustration rather than enjoyment. The text and the whole story is almost completely “open” with a very open ending， reads who are looking for a single interpretation could find themselves in failure. Even after several readings one could find that the novel evades solutions， which is one of the hallmarks of Pynchon’s unique style. Almost all questions raised by the novel seems to generate two contradictory solutions， every perception experience by the characters is clouded by some uncertainties. The novel needs to be understood from an open and more modern perspective. Therefore， at the core level of the book， the question of what is the reality would be thrown out， if it is something that projected in our head， or something that stands immutable？ Oedipa struggled with these questions at the risk of her sanity， while the evasive structure of the novel also forces the reader to confront them.

2. Self-development in a Postmodern World

TCL49 is a paradigm of postmodernism， and an example of reflection of the relationship between modernism and postmodernism， which share certain similarities as well as differences.Like other works of Pynchon， TCL49 is rife with ontological disturbance， fragmented consciousness， disrupted narration， technological wizardry and unknowable cabals， which are regarded at the standard for the postmodern novel. Prominent theorists of postmodernism， such as Jean Francois Lyotard and Fredric Jameson， have argued that the sublime is the definitive postmodern category， making the limits of representation that transgressed in postmodern art， and also suggesting the apocalyptic doom prefigured in that art. Pynchon has fundamentally concerned with the terrain of the sublime in TCL49， making great efforts to present the un-representable， obsession with mysterious and gnostic realms.

In TCL49， there are numerous examples of discarded objects， people and ideas. The most obvious example is the acronym W.A.S.T.E.， which evolves into a central thought for both Oedipa and the reader. W.A.T.S.E is critiques of certain aspects of modernity， where people lost their understanding of existence. The recurrent theme intertwines itself within the novels and becomes vital to the understanding of the relationship between modernism and postmodernism. Oedipa follows several dead-end paths to unfold not only the mystery of her ex-boyfriend but to the depths of her inner soul. The novel shows the reader that the finding process are only worth fighting for the lead to self-discovery， which could means the realization of all that we don’t aware of and understand. After facing many dead ends and lost clues， Oedipa becomes entwined in the lies and vague hope of truth， but she struggles even harder to uncover it， knowing step by step that it’s not the answer she is looking for， but to find questions. She realizes that her quest is about the journey but not the destination. It is a story about a modernist people struggling to find her existence in a postmodern world.

At the beginning of the novel， Oedipa lives a typical suburb housewife life， attending Tupperware parties， having multiple credit cards， immersing in the world of consumerism. This is a world saturated by consumerism， new things are constantly replacing the old， and waster becomes prevalent. In this plastic society created by Pynchon， people are always shifting， changing their hopes for future， ignoring the past， and constantly looking for newer and better version of life. But the reader can see that those changing and evolving is regarded as “futureless” by Pynchon， for more objects or more information Oedipa and the reader get， the more chaotic the whole thing becomes. New materials， new information， new concepts and conspiracy theories makes it more difficult for Oedipa to find out any truth out of the chaos， those new things are only constantly replacing and confusing old ones.

In her course of finding the truth， Oedipa fears that she will be unable to remember past events and therefore not knowing herself. She desperately wants to be set free from her imprisoned tower， although she is struggling， she evolves her character， into a postmodern heroine from an ordinary housewife. Even at the end， she still can't find out the truth behind Trystero， but Oedipa becomes her own heroine， independents from her husband， ex-boyfriend or psychiatrist. While during the process， it is those wasted people and object that helps her realizing the course. Only by looking to the past， Oedipa recognizes that discarded people and objects are vital links to a past that modern society is undermining. The self-development of Oedipa leaves the quite pessimistic novel an important hope.

3. Looking for Communication

Communication is a process of connecting， a basic necessity of humanity. The reason why Oedipa’s search for information and cohesion， attracted by the underground postal organization， could be her inner needs for communication， as she is entrapped by a commercial society. She tells the reader that she is no more free in Mexico with Pierce than she was anywhere in the world. Then she falls from this tower in Mexico City to the mundane life she lives with Mucho， a life like “a deck of cards facing all in one direction” and a “gray dressing of ash”. Her tower is the inadequacy of communication in the modern world. She sets out her journey because the search for self and meaning and connection. But as more information doesn’t lead to good communication and understanding， there are too many different interpretations to the same information. Pynchon tells the reader that there are great varieties of mediums for communication， but what those mediums conveyed information is insignificant and ambiguous.

Conversations are only a media carrying all vagueness in most times in the novel. Oedipa and her communication with her doctor， Dr. Hilarius， over the phone， is a typical the unclear communication Pynchon often shows to us. The first time Hilarius calls her， their conversation is vague. The reader unsure of what is going on， what information is meaningful. Even though he did call Oedipa， she asks if she called him， and he responds "I thought so... I had this feeling. " Nothing seems to be straightforward or clear in the picture.

The other communication media also take their places in TCL49. The central symbol of the muted horn Oedipa tries to decipher， is unclear whether the symbols ever really mean anything or if they are in fact part of this large conspiracy. No clear communication could tell Oedipa what is real and what isn't. When Oedipa walks into the bathroom of a bar， she sees a very influential message. The message then reveals to Oedipa the organization W.A.S.T.E， and thus begins her journey and pursuit of truth. The interesting thing is that this life-changing message is not written on parchment， nor on a legal document， but in a bathroom stall. Regardless of how it is communicated， the truth of information has to be found and abundant ways are just disturbing. When Metzger， the lawyer， receives a letter via W.A.S.T.E from his pen pal， letter is meaningless to the reader， but to Metzger and the writer， this note is a symbol that stands for the rebellion， the uprising against a society that scorns communication in all forms. It is in itself extremely significant because it shows that humanity will always have the power of communication， and how important that skill is for human beings to live on.

“Communication is the key.” Pynchon gives the subtext of the novel， which is concerned with how we sort and interpret information in highly entropic systems. With the aid of effects obtained through the use of LSD， Mucho can interpret the desired outcome of the information， he is able to separate and categorize them “into all the basic frequencies and harmonics， with all their different loudnesses， and listen to them…all at once.” Mucho is the only one who is capable of sorting information in a highly entropic system with the help of drugs， while Oedipa and the reader are still struggling in the unsolvable network. Effective communication without misleading is highly difficult but not impossible.

4. Conclusion

The whole novel is the struggles between recording authentic human experience and communicating in a postmodern world. The death of Pierce opens a new world to Oedipa full of uncertainty and chaos. She has to wake up to this America and takes the task of creating meaning and order， more over to find her-self. Pynchon creates a very open way to the reader in a closed entropic system， in which Oedipa must learn that she cannot rely on the reflection of her old knowledge of life to save her from searching deeper and uncovering the fragments which may or may not hold significance. This progress is also an evolution of Oedipa the character， during the course she develops self-discovery slowly， while the method and the only truth could be communication， and finding out truth from numerous information in this abundant world.

TCL49 comes up with possibilities instead of any solutions， while Pynchon is like a doctor who doesn’t offer a cure or even a precise diagnosis， but lists off plenty of symptoms and disturbing test results. That’s a great riddle he throws out to the reader， who wants to find the truth has to communicate the past and fight together with Oedipa in a postmodern world.

Bibliography

[1]Thomas Pynchon， The Crying of Lot 49， New York： Harper & Row， Publishers， Inc. 1986

[2]TimonBeyes， （2009） "An aesthetics of displacement： Thomas Pynchon's symptomatology of organization"， Journal of Organizational Change Management， Vol. 22 Iss： 4， pp.421 – 436

[3]Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld， ISBN-10： 1433120275， Publisher： Peter Lang International Academic Publishers2012