The journey as pictorial metaphor in Thomas Pynchon's "The crying of Lot 49"

• Autores: Ana Rull Suárez
• Localización: Relational designs in literature and the arts: page and stage, canvas and screen / Rui Carvalho Homem (ed. lit.), 2012, ISBN 978-90-420-3581-2, págs. 361-370
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper deals with the relationship between literature and the visual arts, by taking into consideration a novel by Thomas Pynchon and a selection of paintings by Remedios Varo. Although pictorial and symbolic elements are important in all of Pynchon's works, they stand out particularly in "Tbe Crying of Lot 49". The entire novel, from beginning to end, is coloured by pictorial aspects and its organisation and narrative techniques often rely on references from painting. The structure of the novel is framed both by the landscapes and by the protagonist's visual memory, which are interrelatted in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish reality from the internal visual framework in which the protagonist acts and moves. Thus, Pynchon's novel becomes a symbolic work of art that tries to communicate a certain unity between art, transcendence, and ordinary life. In this regard, the novel's parallelism with painting, namely with paintings by Remedios Varo, may be truly enlightening.