The Crying of Lot 49 is a novella by Thomas Pynchon, first published in 1966. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, it is about a woman, Oedipa Maas, possibly unearthing the centuries-old conflict between two mail distribution companies, Thurn und Taxis and the Trystero (or Tristero). The former actually existed, and was the first firm to distribute postal mail; the latter is Pynchon's invention. The novel is often classified as a notable example of postmodern fiction.
Time included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
Read more about The Crying Of Lot 49: Characters, Plot Summary, Critical Reception, Allusions Within The Book, References in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words crying and/or lot:
“Preschoolers think and talk in concrete, literal terms. When they hear a phrase such as losing your temper, they may wonder where the lost temper can be found. Other expressions they may hear in times of crisisraising your voice, crying your eyes out, going to pieces, falling apart, picking on each other, you follow in your fathers footstepsmay be perplexing.”
—Ruth Formanek (20th century)
“Mrs. Zajac knows you didnt try. You dont just hand in junk to Mrs. Zajac. Shes been teaching an awful lot of years. She didnt fall off the turnip cart yesterday. She told you she was an old-lady teacher.”
—Christine Zajac, U.S. fifth-grade teacher. As quoted in Among Schoolchildren, September section, part 1, by Tracy Kidder (1989)