Narrative ambiguity in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49

Rosyida, Alima Nur (2023) Narrative ambiguity in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Sarjana thesis, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

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Abstract

The narration of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 generates multiple exclusive and contradictory interpretations and at the same time prevents univocality. After the novel’s release until the end of the twentieth century, critics tend to avoid structural and narratological approach in the attempt of explaining this multiple-interpretative quality which is recognizable as ambiguity. The Genettean tradition of narratology was deemed not sufficient enough to explicate the complexity and chaotic quality of the novel. Nevertheless, it is imperative to acknowledge that however chaotic a narrative is, the fact that it can generate meanings and interpretations indicate that there is still an underlying structure which supports it. This study endeavors to identify and analyze the narrative structure which builds ambiguity based on the Genettean tradition as well as recent studies and perspectives of narratology from contemporary theorists such as Manfred Jahn, David Herman, Brian McHale, etc. The result shows that the ambiguity is caused by various devices enabled by the heterodiegetic narrator such as unreliable authorial-figural narration, hypothetical narration, ambiguous discourse, and dual voices.

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