Dualities and the Middle Ground in The Crying of Lot 49
Dualities and The Middle Ground in The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 continuously presents dualities, irresolvable polar extremes. As Oedipa Maas delves further into the mystery of the Tristero, she discovers the dualities of solipsism and assimilation, isolation and communication, conservative mainstream politics versus the counterculture of the 60s, and chaos versus order. All of these dualities function in some way build to the final question of meaning versus non meaning as it pertains to the Tristero, Oedipa’s life, and the text as a whole. The stylistic aspects of the text, specifically the maze-like prose, puns, and the deluge of bewildering details are revealing of its refusal to settle on a singular meaning. The excessive, “wasteful” details are symbolic of the text itself, leaving the reader to question whether it is simply absurd or exists in its own right as an aesthetic unity. Yet the lack of closure or presence of a final revelation asserts Lot 49’s achievement as a text which escapes the limits of binary interpretations and reveals the importance of the quest rather than the object.
The beginning of the novel immediately presents the stagnation of innovation and diversity within American culture, and the widespread psychological emptiness created by the growth of consumerist ideals. As Dussere writes, “The central paradox of the rise of consumer culture is that although it accompanied one of the highest standards of living known in history, it also produced a broad cultural sense of emptiness, alienation, and loss (p. 11). The opening descriptions of vapidity and haunting dissatisfaction in the lives of Oedipa and Mucho Maas set up the duality between popular, conservative American culture and the underground movement of the counterculture that Oedipa later discovers. Oedipa initially embodies the blandness that Pynchon depicts as pervading American 1960’s society. Upon returning home from “a Tupperware party whose
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 continuously presents dualities, irresolvable polar extremes. As Oedipa Maas delves further into the mystery of the Tristero, she discovers the dualities of solipsism and assimilation, isolation and communication, conservative mainstream politics versus the counterculture of the 60s, and chaos versus order. All of these dualities function in some way build to the final question of meaning versus non meaning as it pertains to the Tristero, Oedipa’s life, and the text as a whole. The stylistic aspects of the text, specifically the maze-like prose, puns, and the deluge of bewildering details are revealing of its refusal to settle on a singular meaning. The excessive, “wasteful” details are symbolic of the text itself, leaving the reader to question whether it is simply absurd or exists in its own right as an aesthetic unity. Yet the lack of closure or presence of a final revelation asserts Lot 49’s achievement as a text which escapes the limits of binary interpretations and reveals the importance of the quest rather than the object.
The beginning of the novel immediately presents the stagnation of innovation and diversity within American culture, and the widespread psychological emptiness created by the growth of consumerist ideals. As Dussere writes, “The central paradox of the rise of consumer culture is that although it accompanied one of the highest standards of living known in history, it also produced a broad cultural sense of emptiness, alienation, and loss (p. 11). The opening descriptions of vapidity and haunting dissatisfaction in the lives of Oedipa and Mucho Maas set up the duality between popular, conservative American culture and the underground movement of the counterculture that Oedipa later discovers. Oedipa initially embodies the blandness that Pynchon depicts as pervading American 1960’s society. Upon returning home from “a Tupperware party whose