Abstract

Although the heroine of Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Maas, has a name that has--invited Comparison to Sophocles I Oedipus Rex, critics have overlooked the striking parallels between Pynchon's novel and Sophocles I Oedipus at Colonus. Both The Crying of Lot 49 and Oedipus at Colonus open with a journey and end on a note of religious mysticism; and both are concerned with the wandering and exile of their major characters. In addition to these structural and thematic similarities, explicit verbal links between the two works establish the later playas a major source for the novel.

How to Cite:

Richwell, A. E., (1985) “The Crying of Lot 49: A Source Study”, Pynchon Notes 17, 78-80. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/pn.368