JOURNAL ARTICLE

Reading Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 as Crime Fiction.

  • Published In: Studies in American Fiction, 2024, v. 51, n. 2. P. 231 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Mattli, Alan 3 of 3

Abstract

Thomas Pynchon's 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49 is not commonly read as a crime narrative. However, my contention is that it bears significant traces of the genre of Sherlock Holmes, and that its oft-noted postmodern features serve to deconstruct the assumptions of traditional detective literature. Through its challenges to the notion of objective experience, its illustrations of the limits of subjectivity, and its undermining of Lyotardian metanarratives, the novel tells the story of a failing quasi-detective who learns to exist within a world that has abandoned the epistemological principles upon which the conventional detective story rests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Studies in American Fiction. 2024/09, Vol. 51, Issue 2, p231
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0091-8083
  • DOI:10.1353/saf.2024.a968027
  • Accession Number:188027715
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Studies in American Fiction is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.