Approaches to Teaching Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and Other Works

As teachers well know, the elements that make Thomas Pynchon exciting to read and study--the historical references, the multilayered prose, and the postmodern integration of high and low cultures and science and literature--often constitute hurdles to undergraduate and graduate readers alike. The essays gathered in this volume turn these classroom challenges into assets, showing instructors how to make the narratives' frustration of reader expectations not only intellectually rewarding but a…