The Crying of Lot 49 Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

  1. Do you think that Tristero is real? Or is Oedipa insane? Or did Inverarity invent the whole thing as a hoax?
  2. What does the Tristero conspiracy say about the nature of America?
  3. How does Oedipa function as a Maxwell's Demon in the novel?
  4. What does Oedipa have to say about communication in the modern age?
  5. How does the book parody the 1960s?
  6. How does it parody the study of history?
  7. How does it parody literary scholarship?
  8. How does it parody detective stories and other popular fiction?
  9. Why is there so little love in the novel? What is the relationship between the lack of love and the plot?
  10. Why does the plot have to be so incredibly convoluted? Why are there so many characters with funny names?
  11. Is this book meant to be taken seriously?