This is best reflected by the main character: Oedipa finds herself in the middle of a plot where the ambiguity of the actions and of the characters (and this is also one of the reasons the writer uses the funny character names, to induce the idea th Continue Reading...
Starting with the names of the characters and continuing with many of the events in the novel, he is ironically picturing a consumer society that needs to rely on certainties in order to secure its present and avoid alienation, which is why the enti Continue Reading...
Pynchon Bibliography
Thomas Pynchon: Annotated Bibliography
Kolodny, Annette and David James Peters. "Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49: The Novel as Subversive Experience." Modern Fiction Studies 19.1 (Spring 1973): 79-87. Web.
The authors of this a Continue Reading...
Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge
One hallmark of postmodern literature is a willingness to mingle high and low registers, and to subvert popular and recognizable genres of literature with material that might seem foreign or that frustrates customary ex Continue Reading...
The first comes with the name of the main character, Oedipa, a play on the famous Oedipus. Part of Oedipus's destiny is related to his capacity to solve several mysteries, which is also what Oedipa has to do. Some of the names the author uses are si Continue Reading...
CLASSICAL AND POPULAR MUSIC IN 'THE CRYING OF LOT 49'
Thomas Pynchon is known for his complex storylines and weird characters. For this reason it is not easy to comment on the use of music in his novels as it is the very complexity of his plots that Continue Reading...
Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey was written after its author worked as an orderly in a psychiatric ward. Yet the novel also demonstrates significant research that manages to elevate it to the level of a serious critique. Publi Continue Reading...
The Muted Horn Symbol in Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49The horn is a symbol of alerta signal of calling one to attention that a message of importance might be communicated. In Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49, the protagonist Oedipa is spurred on by the Continue Reading...
In the third section of the book Babette is cheating on Jack, hoping to gain access to a drug (Dylar) that treats people who fear dying. Clearly DeLillo is playing off of society's fear of death. Eventually Jack kills the man Babette was having liai Continue Reading...
Dominance of Humanity over Nature: Conflict and Change in 19th Century Human Society in the Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of the novel Frankenstein (1818), had introduced in literature a new genre and theme where Continue Reading...
Apart from taking an authoritative role in the Symposium, many people consider her to be behind the doubts of her existence. She passes her wisdom to Socrates who in turn passes it to his many friends. She distinguishes the difference that existed b Continue Reading...
truth and to draw a line between what is real and what is pseudo demands not only rationality but also the power to keep one's senses intact. Searching for the answers to the perplexing and intellectually challenging questions result in our increase Continue Reading...
Human emotions and values are detached and unreal in this work, as well. Pynchon paints vivid pictures of the characters, but they are all flawed, somehow. Oedipa is married to a disc jockey junkie, Dr. Hilarius is a psycho afraid of Nazi retributi Continue Reading...
Barth, LITY)
Hello, my name is Fadi Awwad. Apologies for the late submission -- for some reason the due date was not showing on my Blackboard! The most recent book I read that really subverted the concept of Freytag's Triangle was probably The Cryi Continue Reading...
Memoirs are effective forms of writing to use for a number of reasons. As a 20th Century American, one can look upon memoirs as both a telling of a time past and a time present; memoirs show a piece of our history, and thus by extension a piece of on Continue Reading...