The Crying of Lot 49: Thomas Pynchon

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Questions abound. Why do we need to know about the oregano, we ask? Why is Randolph Driblette’s performance of The Courier’s Tragedy relevant to Pierce Inverarity’s will? What is the significance of Maxwell’s Demon? How has Dr Hilarious survived this long as a psychoanalyst? In asking about the mould on the oregano we end up asking about everything. Why do we need to know about any of this, or rather: what, in amongst all this, is important?

One night, Oedipa and Metzger go to a bar called The Scope, where they meet Mike Fallopian. Mike is a member of the Peter Pinguid Society, an extreme right-wing group that takes its name from the first U.S.-Russia military encounter in history. The ardently pro-American organization is to the right even of the John Birch Society. The three of them chat about the group until Oedipa leaves to go to the bathroom. In a stall, she sees a symbol that she cannot quite distinguish, comprised of a line segment running tangent to a circle, with an isosceles triangle at one end and a small trapezoid attached to the base of the triangle. Although Oedipa does not realize it at first, it is supposed to depict a muted post-horn. Under the picture is written the name "Kirby" and the acronym WASTE, although Oedipa does not know what it represents.As they go about sorting through Pierce's tangled financial affairs, Oedipa takes note of the fact that Pierce owned an extensive stamp collection. One night, Oedipa and Metzger go to a bar called The Scope, where they meet Mike Fallopian, a member of a right-wing fanatical organization called the Peter Pinguid Society. In the bathroom of the bar, Oedipa sees a symbol that she later learns is supposed to represent a muted post horn. Written below the symbol are the acronym W.A.S.T.E. and the name "Kirby." Oedipa makes a note of all this info before returning to chat with Mike at the bar. Also called acid, LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) is a hallucinogenic drug that can affect the user's perception of time, color, movement, and sound. This psychedelic can cause the early onset of schizophrenia in some individuals.

When a clerk pops up behind the reception desk of the American Deaf-Mute Assembly (Californian chapter) and starts signing at her, Oedipa considers giving him the V.

Oedipa’s gags give Lot 49 its charm. But they also cut to the heart of the novel; because, as much as Oedipa is chasing a hard ground on which to stand, and understand, to doso she herself must spin fiction.