Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49, details Oedipa Maas’ quest to unearth a possibly centuries-old clandestine mail system, the Trystero. Oedipa is immersed in notions of sociality and she must navigate the social landscape, searching for clues as to the existence of the social system. In her quest she assumes the role of a detective who searches for meaning, as she looks for clues and questions others who might potentially be privy to the secrets of the Trystero. She necessarily performs the process of symbolic exchange with those she encounters in an attempt at ascertaining some greater meaning within the world that she thinks might lie behind the Trystero. In this, the nature of the circulation of meaning is revealed as a cultural construct.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49, details Oedipa Maas’ quest to unearth a possibly centuries-old clandestine mail system, the Trystero. Oedipa is immersed in notions of sociality and she must navigate the social landscape, searching for clues as to the existence of the social system. In her quest she assumes the role of a detective who searches for meaning, as she looks for clues and questions others who might potentially be privy to the secrets of the Trystero. She necessarily performs the process of symbolic exchange with those she encounters in an attempt at ascertaining some greater meaning within the world that she thinks might lie behind the Trystero. In this, the nature of the circulation of meaning is revealed as a cultural construct.

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自一九六六年付梓以來，聘瓊的短篇小說《番號四十九的拍賣》中超現實的敘述技巧，以及科學、文學領域相互交織、對話的風格，一直是批評家立文探究的重點。批評家對聘瓊技巧的純熟以及風格的艱澀，給予高度的肯定。另外，批評家也推崇其對後現代小說發展的貢獻。本論文分成四章：首章討論女主角伊蒂帕．瑪絲如何成功地顛覆父權建構的被動身分；並且繪建女性自主性及書寫女性歷史。第二章討論本小說如何藉「縫隙」牽引讀者的想像力，並且讓讀者和聘瓊進行一場想像力的競技。第三章指出小說豐富的隱喻語言有助於想像力的馳騁及意義的繪建，閱讀行為即是書寫創作。第四章討論聘瓊的歷史觀：他揭櫫了歷史的虛構性，歷史不再是客觀的真理，而僅是歷史學者主觀意識及權力運作的產物。結論則指出「陰謀」是本小說最重要的主題。另外，「偏執狂」式的閱讀或「顛覆性」的閱讀乃是聘瓊的讀者所需具備的態度。讀者反應理論是本論文遵循的分析方法。本論文主張閱讀行為乃是想像力之旅。於閱讀的旅程中，讀者必須成為「偏執狂」，展現顛覆的精神，才是詮釋的真諦。 / Since its publication in 1966, Pynchon's short novel The Crying of Lot 49 has received considerable attention and discussion from critics. They are largely concerned with Pynchon's narrative technique of surrealism and his style of inter-disciplinarity. Pynchon's mature technique along with his style of elusiveness is highly celebrated. In addition, Pynchon's notable contribution to the development of postmodernist fiction is also recognized and respected by critics. 　　There are four chapters in this thesis. Chapter One is focused on Oedipa Maas's successful subversion of phallically or politically constructed identity of passivity. Furthermore, her mapping of femininity and writing of "herstory" are also the main concerns of this chapter. Chapter Two manifests that Pynchon leaves several "unwritten parts", or "gaps," to engage the reader's creative imagination. The novel, hence, is an arena, in which the reader and Pynchon participate in a game of imagination. Significantly, the dynamic interaction of imagination between the reader and Pynchon brings this novel into concretization. Chapter Three is devoted to discussing the profusion of metaphors of Lot 49. Through the interpretation of the metaphors, my reading of this novel is active. Further, instead of a passive consumer, or receiver, I become a co-producer of meanings, not only completing, but also enriching the novel. Chapter Four concentrates on Pynchon's aspects of concerns of history and linguistics. He exposes the fictiveness of history, calls into question the historical end and cause-and-effect, and reduces history to a linguistic construct of a verbal fiction virtually indistinguishable from Lot 49. I conclude that conspiracy is the central theme of this novel. Moreover, to proffer a positive interpretation of Pynchon's Lot 49, paranoid, or subversive reading is indispensable. 　　In conclusion, reader-response theory, promising freedom and autonomy of interpretation, is adopted as a strategy of analysis in this thesis. By this thesis, I argue that reading actually is a travel of imagination. In the travel of reading, to be a paranoia and to display the spirit of subversion are two important goals.

This essay analyses Thomas Pynchon’s novel The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) in relation to postmodern literary theory, specifically the concepts of hyperreality and imaginary stations. In Simulacra and Simulation (1981), Jean Baudrillard proposes that the Disneyland theme park in California is an imaginary station that conceals the fact that it is the world outside of Disneyland that is hyperreal. These ideas were developed further in relation to California by Umberto Eco in Travels from Hyperreality (1986). Baudrillard’s model is applied in this essay to the housing development of Fangoso Lagoons in The Crying of Lot 49. By analysing the mediums through which it is portrayed, how it is described and the events that occur there, Fangoso Lagoons is found to be similar to Baudrillard’s example of Disneyland because it is presented as an amazing, fantastic and bizarre spectacle. However, the true hyperreality lies outside of the development, in the novel’s semi-fictional California. This essay argues that Fangoso Lagoons is presented as hyperreal, similar to Baudrillard’s example of Disneyland or Umberto Eco’s example of Hearst Castle, but that it is in fact an imaginary station. As Baudrillard and Eco propose, the purpose of the imaginary station is to make the world outside appear as real through contrast. The imaginary station achieves this by feeding reality energy to its hyperreal surroundings.

Magister Artium - MA / The focus on space and spatiality is relatively new in literary studies and also not unproblematic. Problems arise from the way in which these concepts are constructed, described, defined and interpret~. It is possible to derive numerous kinds of space, such as historical space, physical space, metaphysical space and religious space, to name a few, from the structure or thematics of a novel. This in itself presents a problem, since the literary scholar must differentiate between these spaces in order to determine which will be most useful for study of a particular aspect. There does not seem to be a coherent theoretical position in literary scholar regarding space, and thus various views of theorists will be considered. Gullon (1975:21), in a seminal article on space entitled On Space in the Novel provides a possible definition of space, with reference to another seminal article, this time by Joseph Frank when he states that "Frank calls 'spatial' the form of those works that at a given instant in time concentrate actions that can be perceived, but not related, simultaneously". This definition denotes a further complication engendered by space, namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. It also seems bound to time, but in a sense bridges the temporal gaps in a novel since it brings together parts that are not necessarily adjacent to each other temporally. Time becomes spatialized by treating events in the novel as separate chunks which can be rearranged and linked to each other. 1bis creates a more coherent and comprehensive picture of events in a text. namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. The main point in this regard seems to be creating patterns. This brings together more elements for the reader to be viewed at once, allowing him or her to attain a broader perspective on the text.

This study explores the depictions of technology and scientists in the literature of five writers during the 1960s. Scientists and technology associated with nuclear, computer, and space science are examined, focusing on their respective treatments by the following writers: John Barth, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. Despite the close connections between the abovementioned sciences, space science is largely spared from negative critiques during the sixties. Through an analysis of Barth's Giles Goat-boy, Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, Asimov's short stories "Key Item," "The Last Question," "The Machine That Won the War," "My Son, the Physicist," and Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, it is argued that altruistic goals of space science during the 1960s protect it from the satirical treatments that surround the other sciences.

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