Reading Response 6-Part Deux -Phil’s Response

I decided to comment on Phil’s response because I have never had the opportunity to tell him that I think he has a lot of very relevant insights that he provides for the class discussions.  I also like your reading response 6.  Swell job Phil..

Phil interpreted the reading response a little differently from me, but I really like what he came up with.  Phil obviously invested time styling his writing so it would mirror and be true to the style with which Pynchon wrote The Crying of Lot 49. Phil’s vignettes help to relay the affect of Oedipa’s experience; her growing sources for information which lead to mounting confusion.  As I saw Audrey also chose to do in her response (with the image of a lamb), Phil used the image of a clover leaf with the word LIFE imprinted on it.  Like Pynchon, these symbols help to move the reader through Phil’s narrative.

Phil’s narrative uses the mode of reason, not necessarily binary reasoning, because there are several different courses Oedipa could chose to take, but reasoning because Oedipa tries to take logical steps to find out what the LIFE symbol means.  Finally, the response definitely leads Oedipa to new information, or at least different information, while also opening new questions.  Phil, similar to Pynchon’s novel, creates new questions without really giving Oedipa answers, which prevents Oedipa, and the reader from reaching the goal.  I think that was also in the directions.  Good job Phil.

Extra Credit Opportunity-Prompt 6

Starting in Chapter 5, Oedipa sees the Tristero/WASTE postal system at work.  When she follows the WASTE mail collector around, he leads her back to John Nefastis.  This eventually leads nowhere, and John Nefastis is not mentioned again.

In Chapter 6, Pynchon makes his first attempts to reveal some answers to the reader.  Oedipa finally learns all about Tristero’s history, and generally how Tristero and Thurn and Taxis came to be.  This however, offers no explanation to the question that originally piqued Oedipa’s interest, which is “why did Driblette refer to Tristero in the production she saw of The Courier’s Tragedy?” Well, Driblette immediately dies, closing the door on ever knowing the answer of including Tristero in the production.  Ghengis Cohen, Oedipa’s hired stamp expert, contacts Oedipa to tell her that he has found WASTE printed in the corner of a stamp recieved from Zap’s Used Bookstore, the same place Oedipa first purchased her copy of The Courier’s Tradgedy. She goes on to find that Zap’s, and the Tank Theatre where Oedipa first saw Driblette perform, are all owned by the Pierce Inverarity Estate, which is beginning to serve as the common denominator to all things Tristero.

Finally, Oedipa is certain she will get answers when they do the crying of lot 49.  However, Pynchon decides to end the novel there, leaving Oedipa and the reader with many unanswered questions.

Just looking at Oedipa’s quest to uncover clues and solve the mystery of the Tristero would really negate the assemblage of other, often seemingly unrelated narratives.  The Crying of Lot 49 is written as an anti-detective novel, meaning what actually happened, the actual detective work that Oedipa did, eventually comes to no avail because it is not what the book is about.  Pynchon purposefully let his story end without really finishing for a number of reasons.  First, because this is not a detective novel, but rather a satire about different fragments of American cultural and how they piece together, Pynchon ended the novel at  a more than appropriate time because he had finished discussing every aspect he wanted to cover.  Second, Pynchon has Oedipa conclude that there can only be four, equally viable, symmetrical options, resulting from what we discussed in class to be reductive, binary logic.  Deciding that there could only be four solutions to her dilema effectively “filtered” out a lot of information that either could or could not be important.  Pynchon may have ended the book at the crying because Oedipa was not recognizing and reacting any longer to her changing situation (ie Driblette dying, Oedipa leaving Mucho) and would never be able to finish her mystery.  Similarly, Pynchon can’t really put a finished period on his book because it’s written about a subject (fragmented American culture and integration) that is constantly changing, and what’s really definitive about that?

I feel like Pynchon’s inclusion of LSD (drugs), Oedipa’s growing confusion and paranoia, and the uber-complicated mystery she is trying to solve all resonate together, throughout the novel The Crying of Lot 49. We talked in class about resonance being a relationship between two narratives, and how they interact.  Our class discussion prompted talking about how music notes work together to create pitches that are pleasing to listen to.  I think each of these notes, when “played” together, make the novel what it is.  First, Pynchon uses LSD (among other references like the Paranoids) as a tool to keep the narrative grounded in the 1960′s culture.  Second, Oedipa is experiencing diminished physical and mental capabilities, increased confusion and paranoia as her search for the Tristero  continues.  What’s making her so confused; taking the drugs?  The mystery Oedipa is trying to solve; all the different people she is forced to contact and deal with during her mission, reinforce the eclecticism of west coast American life during this time period.  Seperately, each of these disparate elements could mean, or take on a number of different meanings.  When heard “resonating” together however, we begin to understand why Pynchon included them and they make sense in the greater context of the novel.

Pynchon makes it abundantly clear that binary, very cause and effect, logic can’t be used by Oedipa to reach her desired solution.  One of the key themes in the novel is that of entropy, or the measure of random, non-cause and effect related events that shaped the novel.  By allowing each of the characters and narratives “resonate” as an assemblage, rather than being pigeon-holed into a specific role allowed the novel to come alive for the reader.

Seeking out the Truth

“And tacit lies the gold once muted horn”

Dipping one foot slowy into the steaming water to check the temperature, Oedipa repeated these words from The Courier’s Tradgedy over and over in her mind, each time gaining familiarity and still doing nothing to quell the mounting apprehension she felt growing in the pit of her stomach.

The Thurn and Taxis coat of arms, Tristero, a muted horn, but what do they mean…  Oh my! Oedipa exclaims in a moment of realization, driving her car from the road and kicking rocks and sand into the lazy, afternoon sky, “Tristero is trying to silence Thurn and Taxis!”

_______________________

Driving west on Highway 24, the warm southern California sun slapping whimsically at her face as she drove, Oedipa wondered as to the type of information Emory Bortz would provide about Richard Wharfinger, and the mute on the Tristero horn.

Tap, Tap, Tap.. “Excuse me, can I help you find someone?”  I’m looking for professor Emory Bortz, do you know where I might be able to find him this afternoon?  ”I’m sorry, Professor Bortz left here to teach in a less liberal setting, something about all these young whipper snappers and the moral decay of a generation.”Oh!  This is so hopeless, everywhere I go, I turn over more questions and am confronted with nothing but dead ends!

“Well, now that I am here, I might as well go see this John Nefastis character; He may know something about the muted Tristero horn.  That would be enough to salvage this trip for me.”

“Come in”

Good afternoon professor Nefastis, I am Oedipa Mass and I have been made chief execturix of an ex-lovers will.  I feel myself being pulled into this turbulent underground conspiracy, something to do with two ancient old world mail couriers, the Tristero and Thurn and Taxis.  I was told that you may have some information about these subjects?

“I’m sorry, but you must be mistaken”

“But what about W.A.S.T.E, box 537?  You know what I’m talking about!”

In an instant, Nefastis’ demeanor changes, and his harsh inflection and curt reply denouncing the subject encourage Oedipa not to press this issue. “I know nothing about either subject, I wouldn’t spend another second thinking about either one if you know whats good for you.”

“Before you go, you should become a subject in my experiement.  I have recently finished developing a machine called a “Maxwell’s Demon” which defies the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which forbids the existence of perpetual motion.  Would you like to see if you are able to operate it?

“God, what have I gotten myself into?

________________________

“It’s been a hard days night, and I’ve working, like a dog”

Oedipa’s radio hummed  melodiously the new hit single “A Hard Days Night” by some new hipsters that called themselves “The Beatles”.

“Boy, these guys really embody how I feel right now; they can really write”.

“But when I get home to you, I find the things that you do, will make me feel all right”.

“God, I miss Mucho, I wonder how he is doing with his insecurities without me being his rock with which to anchor”?

Driving North on I-85 toward the home of Emory Bortz, Oedipa finds herself so engulfed in thought and the impressionable music from her radio, she nearly misses her turn.

Oedipa finds Bortz in his backyard, instructing a class of students.  He welcomes her to join, and respectfully answers her questions about Tristero and The Courier’s Tradgedy.

“So unfortunately, that is all I am able to tell you about Tristero, and I’m afraid gathering more information on the subject maybe getting exponentially more difficult for you.”

“How do you mean?”

“The real person you want to talk to is a man by the name of Driblette, Randolph Driblette.”

“Oh? It would be wonderful for you to put me in contact with him”

“Unfortunately, that is impossible.  He has been dead for four days.”

“Oh no!  Another dead end!”