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* {{Mockspiracy}}: Trystero may be a delusion of Oedipa or an elaborate practival hoke by her deceased husband. Or it may be real after all.
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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A lot of this is more on the part of the characters than Pynchon himself (who usually knows his stuff) and the basic errors in facts probably indicates their loose grasp on history. Mike Fallopian for instance notes that the Russian Tsar who abolished serfdom (and according to him, attacked Peter Pinguid to prevent France and England intervening on behalf of the South) is Nicholas II. The Tsar is actually Alexander II, while Nicholas II was the last tsar in Russian history, executed alongside his family by the Bolshevik regime at Yekaterinaburg.
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* BrokenMasquerade
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* BrokenMasqueradeBrokenMasquerade: The overall thesis is that Trystero after waiting in the shadows all this time might well decide to step into the light.
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* ConspiracyTheory
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Either nearly everyone she knows is part of a conspiracy (whether it's a genuine conspiracy or a joke her late husband - who might not even be dead - is playing on her, almost ''everyone'' is on it and against her), or she is insane, paranoid and detached from reality. And to top it off, no matter what, the experience has completely broken her.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Either nearly everyone she knows is part of a conspiracy (whether it's a genuine conspiracy or a joke her late husband - who might not even be dead - is playing on her, almost ''everyone'' is on it and against her), or she is insane, paranoid and detached from reality. And to top it off, no matter what, the experience has completely broken her.]]
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* ConspiracyTheory
ConspiracyTheory: The overall fuel for the novel's plot, is using conspiracy as a method by which to guide a character into a labyrinthine reality where random chance and tangents brush up with one another. The fact that these connections are tangential, random and are ambiguous in terms of "meaning" fuels the overall paranoid nature of the story.
* DownerEnding:[[spoiler:Regardless of A signficant plot point when Metzger and Oedipa discuss an old movie he made as a child star called ''Cashiered''. [[spoiler:Oedipa has to guess whether the movie has a happy or not sad ending. She assumes that like any Hollywood movie in UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode it had a happy ending. She eventually has sex with him anyway when the broadcast gets interrupted and Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Either nearly everyone believes it had a studio-mandated happy ending. After sleeping with Metzger she knows is part of a conspiracy (whether it's a genuine conspiracy or a joke her late husband - who might not even be dead - is playing on her, almost ''everyone'' is on it wakes up and against her), or she is insane, paranoid the TV shows the end of the film, which in fact ended on a downer with Metzger's character, his father and detached from reality. And to top it off, no matter what, the experience has completely broken her.]]his pet dog all drowning in a sunken submarine]].
* DownerEnding:
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* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Towards the end, Professor Emory Bortz notes that many anti-Trystero Germans came to America after the ''UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848'' and they sought to stifle the growth of Trystero and prevent the revolution. The German immigrants who came to America in Forty-Eight were largely revolutionary exiles and many of them became vocal supporters of the Union cause and strong abolitionists and active in the American Left.
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* ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: The TitleDrop illuminates absolutely nothing.
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* TheReveal: Which makes it ''even worse'' for the reader. We get to know what [[TitleDrop the 49th lot]] is... and pretty much nothing else.
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* TitleDrop: In the very last sentence.
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* TitleDrop: In the The very last sentence.words of the novella.
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*** Still on the ''Lolita'' train, it also contains an early usage of the term "nymphet", which might have helped popularize it.
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*** Still on the ''Lolita'' train, it also contains an early usage of the term "nymphet", which might have helped popularize it. Now you could tell that Pynchon was Nabokov's student at Cornell University (ironically, Nabokov himself didn't remember him at all).
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* MocksteryTale: The conspirological plot about Trystero is never resolved, and it is heavily implied to be a metaphor for the philosophical questions faced by mankind.
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* PopCultureSymbology: Being a postmodern novel, it lives and breathes this trope. For example, it is implied that the villainous character dressed in black from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blow_Out one of the early Porky Pig cartoons]] was a reference to a real-life secret organization called Trystero.
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel (or perhaps novella) by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis. Possibly. Or maybe it's an elaborate prank. [[MindScrew Or maybe she is actually hallucinating it all.]]
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel (or perhaps novella) by ThomasPynchon.Creator/ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis. Possibly. Or maybe it's an elaborate prank. [[MindScrew Or maybe she is actually hallucinating it all.]]
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel (or perhaps novella) by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel (or perhaps novella) by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
Taxis. Possibly. Or maybe it's an elaborate prank. [[MindScrew Or maybe she is actually hallucinating it all.]]
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' and possibly''V''.
''V''. Time magazine included it in its "TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005".
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' and possibly
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[[ThomasPynchon http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thehorn.jpg]]
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Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
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Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''GravitysRainbow'' ''Literature/GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
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*** Still on the ''Lolita'' train, it also contains an early usage of the term "nymphet", which might have helped popularize it.
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* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Either absolutely everyone is part of a conspiracy, or she is insane, paranoid and detached from reality.]]
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* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Either absolutely nearly everyone she knows is part of a conspiracy, conspiracy (whether it's a genuine conspiracy or a joke her late husband - who might not even be dead - is playing on her, almost ''everyone'' is on it and against her), or she is insane, paranoid and detached from reality.reality. And to top it off, no matter what, the experience has completely broken her.]]
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* DownerEnding:[[spoiler: Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Absolutely everyone she knows is part of Tristero]]
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* DownerEnding:[[spoiler: Regardless DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Absolutely Either absolutely everyone she knows is part of Tristero]]a conspiracy, or she is insane, paranoid and detached from reality.]]
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* NoEnding: Because it's a Pynchon novel.
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* NoEnding: Because it's a Pynchon novel. [[spoiler:The novel ends just as Oedipa is making headway into her investigation, without telling us what she finds.]]
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* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:Is Oedipa onto a genuine conspiracy? Is the entire thing an elaborate practical joke planned on her by her ex-boyfriend? Is she losing her mind and hallucinating the whole thing? The narrative never tells us, and indeed acknowledges that all of these are possibilities.]]
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The current entry was factually inaccurate.
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* ShoutOut: When Serge of The Paranoids loses his eight-year old girlfriend to a middle-aged man, he writes a song that namechecks [[{{Lolita}} Humbert Humbert]]. As you would expect from a Pynchon novel, there are dozens of others.
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* ShoutOut: When Serge of The Paranoids loses his eight-year 16-year old girlfriend to a middle-aged man, he writes a song that namechecks [[{{Lolita}} Humbert Humbert]]. As you would expect from a Pynchon novel, there are dozens of others.others.
** He then contemplates hanging around playgrounds to pick up a 8-year-old girlfriend, since his own was stolen by a man twice her age.
** He then contemplates hanging around playgrounds to pick up a 8-year-old girlfriend, since his own was stolen by a man twice her age.
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Hottip cleanup.
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to Music/TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias"[[hottip:*:they even recorded a song by this title, although it was not released until TheNineties on one of the ''Anthology'' albums]].
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to Music/TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias"[[hottip:*:they Paranoias"[[note]]they even recorded a song by this title, although it was not released until TheNineties on one of the ''Anthology'' albums]].albums[[/note]].
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* ArcSymbol: The symbol of Trystero, the post horn.
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* ArcSymbol: The symbol of Trystero, the muted post horn.
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* PosthumousCharacter: Pierce Inverarity.
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* DownerEnding:[[spoiler: Regardless of whether or not Oedipa Maas manages to get anything done, it's completely for naught. Absolutely everyone she knows is part of Tristero]]
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* BrownNote: Dr. Hilarius claims to have once made a silly face so terrible that it drove a man insane.
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* HerrDoktor: Oedipa's psychiatrist reveals himself to be a former Nazi doctor who experimented on Jews.
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* HerrDoktor: Oedipa's psychiatrist reveals himself to be a former Nazi doctor who experimented on Jews. See BrownNote above.
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* InterruptedByTheEnd: Subverting TheReveal, but also endings seconds before lot 49 is cried.
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* MeaningfulName: Largely subverted. Oepida fails to solve a riddle and never commits incest, Mr. Thoth isn't especially wise, and Genghis Cohen is not a barbarian overlord. Dr. Hilarius, however, is pretty goddamn funny.
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias"[[hottip:*:they even recorded a song by this title, although it was not released until TheNineties on one of the ''Anthology'' albums]].
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles.Music/TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias"[[hottip:*:they even recorded a song by this title, although it was not released until TheNineties on one of the ''Anthology'' albums]].
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* MagicalRealism: Once the (possibly functional) Maxwell's demon device shows up the novel moves firmly into this territory.
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* BrokenMasquerade
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several real people, such as William of Orange, appear in Trystero's backstory.
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* ShowWithinAShow: ''The Courier's Tragedy'', a fictional Jacobean revenge play.
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* ArcSymbol: The symbol of Trystero, the post horn.
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* ParanoiaFuel
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel (or perhaps novella) by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
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* ArcNumber: 49.
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* BlackComedy: Loads of it, like a passing story of a businessman debating whether or not to kill himself by setting himself on fire.
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* DrivenToSuicide: One of the groups whose mail Trystero handles is a support group for failed suicides.
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* ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: The TitleDrop illuminates absolutely nothing.
* ItWasHereISwear: Evidence of Trystero's activities often swiftly vanishes when Oedipa returns to them.
* MindScrew
* ItWasHereISwear: Evidence of Trystero's activities often swiftly vanishes when Oedipa returns to them.
* MindScrew
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* ParanoiaFuel
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* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: It's never explained whether the events of the novel are really happening, or if it's all a big practical joke carried out by Pierce Inverarity, or if Oedipa is simply going mad. Oedipa herself acknowledges that all of these are eminently plausible.
* TitleDrop: In the very last sentence.
* UnreliableNarrator: Oedipa, possibly.
* WeAreEverywhere
* TitleDrop: In the very last sentence.
* UnreliableNarrator: Oedipa, possibly.
* WeAreEverywhere
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* AlternateHistory: Thurn und Taxis really existed. Trystero (to the best of our knowledge) did not.
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* ConspiracyTheory
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias."
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* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias."Paranoias"[[hottip:*:they even recorded a song by this title, although it was not released until TheNineties on one of the ''Anthology'' albums]].
* FunWithAcronyms: '''D'''on't '''E'''ver '''A'''ntagonize '''T'''he '''H'''orn, '''W'''e '''A'''wait '''S'''ilent '''T'''ristero's '''E'''mpire, etc.
* FunWithAcronyms: '''D'''on't '''E'''ver '''A'''ntagonize '''T'''he '''H'''orn, '''W'''e '''A'''wait '''S'''ilent '''T'''ristero's '''E'''mpire, etc.
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moved to literature namespace
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[[ThomasPynchon http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thehorn.jpg]]
''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
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!!This novel contains the following tropes
* AwesomeMcCoolName: [[Theatre/OedipusTheKing Oedipa]] Maas, Dr. Hilarius, Genghis Cohen, Mike Fallopian, and a radio station called [[SdrawkcabName KCUF]].
* BloodyHilarious: ''The Courier's Tragedy'', a (fictional) Jacobean revenge play that features in Chapter 3.
* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias."
* HerrDoktor: Oedipa's psychiatrist reveals himself to be a former Nazi doctor who experimented on Jews.
* NoEnding: Because it's a Pynchon novel.
* PostModernism
* ShoutOut: When Serge of The Paranoids loses his eight-year old girlfriend to a middle-aged man, he writes a song that namechecks [[{{Lolita}} Humbert Humbert]]. As you would expect from a Pynchon novel, there are dozens of others.
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''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by ThomasPynchon. It is about a woman named Oedipa Maas who unravels the rivalry between two mail distribution companies, Trystero and Thurn und Taxis.
Though it is significantly shorter than the rest of Pynchon's novels (especially ''Against the Day'' and ''Mason & Dixon''), it has become one of Pynchon's most popular books, after ''GravitysRainbow'' and possibly ''V''.
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!!This novel contains the following tropes
* AwesomeMcCoolName: [[Theatre/OedipusTheKing Oedipa]] Maas, Dr. Hilarius, Genghis Cohen, Mike Fallopian, and a radio station called [[SdrawkcabName KCUF]].
* BloodyHilarious: ''The Courier's Tragedy'', a (fictional) Jacobean revenge play that features in Chapter 3.
* {{Expy}}: Despite being from Southern California, the four members of the band The Paranoids are ''very'' similar to TheBeatles. A nickname for The Beatles was "Los Paranoias."
* HerrDoktor: Oedipa's psychiatrist reveals himself to be a former Nazi doctor who experimented on Jews.
* NoEnding: Because it's a Pynchon novel.
* PostModernism
* ShoutOut: When Serge of The Paranoids loses his eight-year old girlfriend to a middle-aged man, he writes a song that namechecks [[{{Lolita}} Humbert Humbert]]. As you would expect from a Pynchon novel, there are dozens of others.
----
