I have a much clearer picture after Friday's discussion. I'm comforted knowing that I'm not the only one who's completely confused by the way Pynchon writes. I would not be someone who buys all of his books. This one is mountain enough for me right now!
I was so interested in the names however. After reading a few of them in the book, I knew they had some sort of connection or meaning. I didn't realize that so many books require background knowledge and context to fully appreciate the text. I have so much more respect and interest for authors now. Though, I am a little tiffed that I have to be the one doing the research :) (I'm not a researcher)
That's one reason I wanted to take this class however, was to become more educated on how Literature played a part in history and vice versa. Seeing how the story of Oedipus played into The Crying of Lot 49 makes me want to go and read it--not necessarily to understand the book better. But something that was used for another text must have some significance to it. And it's a Greek story. Those are always packed full of info (and take so long for me to read!).
While part of me doesn't look forward to diving any more into the text (most of me actually). I'm anxious to get to the end; I want to be done with it, but I also want to conquer this book having understood even a minimal part of it. That would be satisfying enough for me.
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