Thos Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49 - Her Errand Into the Wilderness :: Crying Lot 49 Essays

  The gross of Lot 49 Her Errand Into the Wilderness        One of the central themes moved(p) upon in Pierre-Yves Petillons Essay, A Re-cognition of Her Errand Into the Wilderness, is the general sense of alter angiotensin converting enzyme feels when he reads Thos Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49. Petillon begins his essay by expressing the opinion that it is rather odd that The Crying of Lot 49, a slim novella should have become an overnight classic (ODonnell, p.127). What at first seemed like a typical piece elaborate the virtues of LSD, turned out to have much more under the surface than a first reading would reveal. Here was another groovy sample of the emergent psychedelic scene om, sweet om, O(edipa) M(ass) and her Lonely Hearts Club Band (ODonnell, p. 128). Petillon touches upon the books power beautifully by realizing that its mood grows upon you with each reading (ODonnell, p. 129).   Born in the Late 1930s, doubting Thomas Pynchon came o f age during the Eisenhower Siesta, when everything had, it seemed, slowed to a sudden standstill (ODonnell, p. 135). Petillon then relates Lot 49 to Jack Kerouacs On The Road, by telling of their simultaneous sense of blooming, as if awakening from a long sleep (ODonnell, p. 130). He also points out that both Kerouacs and Pynchons main characters (Kerouacs being himself, and Pynchons being Oedipa Maas), both move further and further into an invisible, secret America (ODonnell, p. 130).   I believe the one thing Petillon has failed to mention adequately, though, is the fact that the reader never gets a sense of their surroundings. When awakening from a long sleep, one usually ends up with a general awareness and clarity as to what is going on around him. However, with The Crying of Lot 49, you come to end of the story, or the end of the awakening if you will, only to find that you have slipped further into a dream.