InfoCoBuild

ENGL 291: The American Novel Since 1945

Lecture 12 - Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49. Professor Hungerford introduces this lecture by reviewing the ways that authors on the syllabus up to this point have dealt with the relationship between language and life, that collection of elusive or obvious things that for literary critics fall under the category of "the Real." The Real can shout out from a work of art, as it sometimes does in Black Boy, or haunt it, as in Lolita. It can elude authors like Kerouac and Barth for widely different reasons. Placing Pynchon firmly in the context of the political upheaval of the 1960s that he is often seen to avoid, Hungerford argues that Pynchon - no less than a writer of faith like Flannery O'Connor - is deeply invested in questions of meaning and emotional response, so that The Crying of Lot 49 is a sincere call for connection, and a lament for loss, as much as it is an ironic, playful puzzle. (from oyc.yale.edu)

Lecture 12 - Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

Time Lecture Chapters
[00:00:00] 1. Language and Reality: Course Review
[00:09:18] 2. Pynchon and Politics: Activism and Passivism in the 1960s
[00:15:42] 3. The Variable Roles of Oedipa Maas
[00:36:02] 4. Finding Reality in the Social Details

References
Lecture 12 - Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Instructor: Professor Amy Hungerford. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov].

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introductions
Lecture 02 - Richard Wright, Black Boy
Lecture 03 - Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Lecture 04 - Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood (cont.)
Lecture 05 - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Lecture 06 - Guest Lecture by Andrew Goldstone
Lecture 07 - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (cont.)
Lecture 08 - Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Lecture 09 - Jack Kerouac, On the Road (cont.)
Lecture 10 - J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
Lecture 11 - John Barth, Lost in the Funhouse
Lecture 12 - Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Lecture 13 - Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Lecture 14 - Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Lecture 15 - Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
Lecture 16 - Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping (cont.)
Lecture 17 - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
Lecture 18 - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (cont.)
Lecture 19 - Philip Roth, The Human Stain
Lecture 20 - Philip Roth, The Human Stain (cont.)
Lecture 21 - Philip Roth, The Human Stain (cont.)
Lecture 22 - Edward P. Jones, The Known World
Lecture 23 - Edward P. Jones, The Known World (cont.)
Lecture 24 - Students'Choice Novel: Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
Lecture 25 - Students'Choice Novel: Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
Lecture 26 - Review for Final Exam