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Cover of The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

The Crying of Lot 49

  • 174 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1966
  • 55 editions

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1 About this book

The Crying of Lot 49 is a novel by the American author Thomas Pynchon. It was published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. on April 27, 1966. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who begins to embrace a conspiracy theory as she possibly unearths a centuries-old feud between two mail distribution companies.

One of these companies, Thurn and Taxis, actually existed; operating from 1806 to 1867, Thurn and Taxis was the first private firm to distribute postal mail. Like most of Pynchon's writing, The Crying of Lot 49 is often described as postmodernist literature. Time magazine included the book in its list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Odysseus (Greek mythology)
  • Politics and government
  • Married women
  • Poetry
  • Greek Epic poetry
  • Married people
  • Fictional Works [Publication Type]
  • Women

2 About Thomas Pynchon

Born 1937

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist based in New York City and noted for his dense and complex works of fiction. Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon spent two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University.

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