This essay aims to analyse the post-modern characteristics of the novel, The Crying of Lot 49 by
Thomas Pynchon. The story follows Oedipa Maas, a typical house-wife who receives a will, in
which she finds out that her ex-lover, Pierce, has died and now all of his property belongs to
Oedipa. She travels to San Narciso and learns about a mysterious courier system called ‘Tristero’.
In the city, she also meets various eccentric characters such as Dr.Hilarius, her psychotherapist,
John Nefastis, an engineer who believes he has built a working version of Maxwell’s demon and
others. In the concluding scene, we see Oedipa attending an auction to bid on a set of rare postage
stamps, under the lot ’49’, that she believes members of Tristero are trying to acquire. Through the
text, Pynchon is able to explore and dissect various aspect of contemporary America life. The major
themes of the story, pop culture, isolation, and drugs represent the cultural chaos in the daily life of
Oedipa and everyone she encounters. These problems were also faced by many Americans in the
1930s, especially after World War 2 as they had lost faith in religion, the government and mass
media. Through these themes and the writing style, Pynchon involves the reader in the search of
meaning within the text. The writing style adopted by Pynchon contains many postmodern
techniques including the use of language, parody, irony, intertextuality, satire, and dark humor.
Parody is one of the main aspects of postmodernism. Pynchon uses this technique through narration
of the text. He parodies the culture of America through the use of wordplay like the names of
characters to mock of the importance of self and the use of advance scientific and technical
language to express emotion. The names also indicate the use of irony. Irony is the use of words to
express something that is often the exact opposite of the literal meaning. An example in the text
would be that of Dr. Hillarius, an insane doctor who treats patients with mental disorder and stress.
While his name’s literal meaning points out the hilarity of the situation, Pynchon also gives a more
grim undertone by highlighting the danger of drugs and experimentation. Another character of the
story, the director Randolph Driblette is used by the author to refer to other works of literature, such
as the Jacobean play, and Wharfinger and Shakespeare. This process, known as intertextuality is
used by postmodernist to create tragic elements by weaving a story within the story. Another
widely used postmodern technique in the text is satire, which is closely linked with the dark humor
in the narration. Serious events are expressed in nonchalant yet an almost ridiculous manner like the
knowledge that ink is made from human bones or naming the postal courier service ‘WASTE’.
These techniques further add to the parody of contemporary American life in the text. Apart from
the postmodernism ideas expressed within the writing style, Pynchon also uses the other post-
modernist approaches within the structure of the story, such as metafiction and fragmentation. The
novel has a structure called self-explanatory. Self-explanation can also, in some sense be called
metafiction. Fragmentation is a vital aspect of postmodernism. Thomas Pynchon uses fragmentation
in various parts of his text. There is a fragmentation of society, that is indicated through paranoid
characters. There are delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, fear of unknown and
exaggerated self-importance displayed especially by Oedipa, Mucho and Dr. Hilarius. As paranoia
increases, it blurs the line between reality and imagination. This results in the loss of identity and
isolation of characters, pointing towards a fragmented society. The system within the society is also
fragmented through the exposure of drug culture and media. Using of drug not only makes Oedipa,
Mucho and Dr.Hilarius insane but also makes them feel depressed and isolated in life. Through a
blend of many elements, Pynchon is able to create chaos in the story, and thus is also able to induce
the audience to look for meaning within the story. Thus, the story is able to memorialise the aspects
of chaos, disorder and cultural diversity in American lives through the use of postmodernism.