{"id":136,"date":"2009-02-04T15:05:35","date_gmt":"2009-02-04T20:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=136"},"modified":"2009-02-04T15:28:12","modified_gmt":"2009-02-04T20:28:12","slug":"the-meaning-of-reality-in-crying-of-lot-49-%e2%80%9cviolence-to-our-flabby-habits-of-perception%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning of Reality in Crying of Lot 49: \u201cviolence to our flabby habits of perception\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crying of <\/em>Lot<\/em> 49 <\/em>was not a fun read for me. Even though it\u2019s supposed to be one of Pynchon\u2019s most accessible novels, I was still frustrated by the evasiveness of its plot. After finishing the novel and reading Michael Holquist\u2019s \u201cWhodunit and Other Questions,\u201d I started to find some logic and reassurance in the entropy of <\/em>Lot<\/em> 49<\/em>\u2019s plot. Holquist\u2019s prodding question especially piqued my interest: \u201cWhat, then, is the particular pattern of reassurance provided by detective fiction?\u201d (138). Holquist defines the clich\u00e9s of modernist detective fiction, and arrives at the conclusion that postmodern detective stories respond <\/em>to modernist ones, especially in their attempt to escape from “rational” literature that fills illogical voids with psychological and mythical reasoning. Instead of filling the unexplainable \u201cvoid\u201d in stories with religion or myths, postmodernism \u201cdramatizes that void\u201d (155). In a way, the dramatization of this void presents a more realistic image<\/em> of the world we inhabit. So, instead of making up stuff, we just admit that we don\u2019t know\u2026<\/p>\n

It is only natural to feel jilted by Pynchon\u2019s destruction of our rosy perception of reality. I believe that this is, in fact, his message. As Holquist eloquently states towards the end of his essay, it is this ambiguity and meaninglessness of the metaphysical detective story which causes \u201cviolence to our flabby habits of perception\u201d (156). Instead of spoon-feeding nuggets of coherent, linear, and relevant information to readers, Pynchon gives the reader both useful information and superfluous, disorienting details in the order in which Oedipa encounters them, to emulate the realistic <\/em>and often random <\/em>transmission of information in real life. The unsuspecting reader will undoubtedly find the text initially infuriating, but there is some enjoyment that can be found in its \u201copen\u201d ending. Though unsettling, Crying of Lot 49 <\/em>succeeds in provoking readers to ponder interesting philosophical questions regarding the relevance of information, the mutability of our perception of reality, and the (im)possibility of manipulating our circumstances to create (dis)order in our lives.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most pressing question that I have regarding the novel is this: Is Pynchon implying that life is so capricious so that arbitrary events and associations lead to profound discoveries, or is he suggesting the opposite\u2014that life\u2019s events are more banal than we imagine, leaving us (like Oedipa) falsely presuming that meaningful connections exist in the midst of random information? Is Oedipa fighting a losing battle by attempting to create order in her chaotic world?<\/p>\n

\n

I have accepted that these questions have no distinct, correct answers. In this sense, Lot<\/em> 49 <\/em>and other postmodern detective stories are violent. As Holquist points out, these stories are \u201cnot an escape, but an attack\u201d (155). They are an attack on our stale and unimaginative perception of reality, one where all clues are relevant and lead to a solution, and where all detective novels end in the salvation of the good characters and the punishment of the bad ones. Pnychon wants to shows his readers that there exists a possibility of another<\/em> (not so pleasant) reality, or maybe that there is no <\/em>fixed reality at all.<\/p>\n

\"pynchon-simpsons\" <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crying of Lot 49 was not a fun read for me. Even though it\u2019s supposed to be one of Pynchon\u2019s most accessible novels, I was still frustrated by the evasiveness of its plot. After finishing the novel and reading Michael Holquist\u2019s \u201cWhodunit and Other Questions,\u201d I started to find some logic and reassurance in the … Continue reading The Meaning of Reality in Crying of Lot 49: \u201cviolence to our flabby habits of perception\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[120,35],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pynchon","tag-pynchon","tag-reality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}