An Analysis Of The Crying Of Lot49by Thomas Pynchon From Deconstructive Perspective

Thomas Pynchon is one of the most important contemporary American writers.The Crying of Lot49by Thomas Pynchon is a typical postmodernist fiction. In thefiction, he describes a weird story of the heroine who executes a large heritage. Itseems a detective fiction; in fact, the fiction exposes all kinds of disadvantages ofpostmodern American society, and at the same time the fiction criticizes thecontemporary American society. Although the fiction has a short length, thelabyrinthine plot and uncertain conclusion enrich readers’ imagination.The works has aroused scholars’ attention at home and abroad, and the works isanalyzed from different angles，including uncertainty, writing style and so on.However, the meaning of textual content and the aim of Pynchon’s writing have beenneglected. This thesis intends to analyze the works from the deconstructiveperspective and based on two characteristics of deconstructive perspective, the thesisshows three deconstructive aspects including the textual form, the meaning oflanguage and the textual content.This thesis includes five chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction of ThomasPynchon, his works and The Crying of lot49. Chapter Two is the literature review athome and abroad. Thirdly, this part analyzes the definition and characteristics ofdeconstruction, deconstruction’s representatives and their ideas, and the influence onpostmodernist works. Besides, in the fourth chapter it is the center of the thesis. Thepart deconstructs the whole novel based on two characteristics of deconstructiveperspective: anti-logocentrism and subversion of the binary opposition theory. Fromdeconstruction of the textual form, the difference will be shown between thepostmodernist novel and the traditional novel. The analysis of anti-structure andanti-plot will be paid much attention to; from deconstruction of language’s meaning,the central meaning of the fiction will disappear. The ambiguity of words,technological words and metaphor will change the certainty of traditional language sothat the uncertainty of language will make the center of the text disappear; fromdeconstruction of textual content, it further proves that the works subverts the binaryopposition theory. Chapter five is the conclusion that again emphasizes thesimilarities between the deconstructive theory and the novel.