Just as Gravity's Rainbow is always in the background of my mind the Crying of Lot 49 is another book that keeps coming back, over and over. Structurally and conceptually simpler (a lot simpler) than GR, tCoL49 nevertheless displays many of GR's traits in a way that V didn't. V was more personal in terms of story and underlying symbology, tCoL49 has the scope in symbolism and narrative that GR displays, but for a single plotline, while GR is ... well... everything. Because it's simpler, tCoL49 is more approachable as well, maybe even more so than V, because of its size. I have to read V again soon, before re-reading GR.
On a related note, I found this article from 4 years ago about Pynchon's letters to his agent, their publication, and the resulting mess. Really interesting.
Categories: personal
Posted by diego on September 18 2002 at 9:39 PM