Tamir Kalifa...Relevent indeed...

When thinking about the Vietnam War, I do not see it as a military conflict between two nations or even as an attempt for one nation to assert its ideological influence upon another. To me, it exists within the context of Cold War era politics, post WWII optimism and a radical social movement that continues to influence our lives. While The Crying of Lot 49, published in 1966, doesn’t deal with the Vietnam War directly, it does reflect the sentiments, concerns, ideologies, attitude and lifestyle of the decade during which it was published. For our intents and purposes as a class studying the rhetoric of Vietnam, The Crying of Lot 49 gives us a context with which to view the War.
For example, fervor on campuses across the world was responsible for the loss of public support for the war, impacted the history of the United States and cemented the role of students as intellectual challengers. Though The Crying of Lot 49 was published before the main years of public opposition, Pynchon describes a summer weekday on the Berkley campus, a common scene that became synonymous with universities everywhere in years to come: “She came downslope…into a plaza teeming with corduroy, denim, bare legs, blonde hair, hornrims, bicycle spokes in the sun, bookbags swaying card tables, long paper petitions dangling to earth, posters for undecipherable FSM’s YAF’s, VDC’s suds in the fountain, students in nose-to-nose dialogue” (82-83). The Vietnam War can never be analyzed or understood without considering the impact it had on the United States and America’s youth and the impact the anti-war movements had on the conflict.
Much of The Crying of Lot 49 also explores paranoia, confusion and conspiracy theories, sentiments that were common throughout the 1950s and 60s, especially following the McCarthy era anti-American trials and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Pynchon’s writing style reflects this as much of the novel features Oedipa struggling with what she perceives as real versus what is in her imagination. The idea of reality within Pynchon’s style is one of the elements of The Crying of Lot 49 that has been associated with postmodern literature.
In addition to it being a timepiece within the Vietnam War, The Crying of Lot 49 is a postmodern detective story where the protagonist, Oedipa Mass attempts to determine the existence of “Tristero” and struggles with whether she is uncovering a grand conspiracy or merely going insane. The structure of the novel is relevant to the class because, being a detective story, the protagonist is influenced by and relies on, rhetoric to get what she wants. Oedipa analyzes everything from the play The Courier’s Tragedy to the muted-horn symbol of the Tristero to deduce meaning and understand the puzzle she believes to be assembling.
There are also amusing examples of rhetoric and argument throughout the novel. My personal favorite is when John Nefastis, the scientist, casually attempts to seduce Oedipa by suggesting they “do it” (86), on the couch. Oedipa screams and runs away. An example of failed rhetoric, Nefastis wanted to do it while watching the news but was so unpersuasive that he sent Oepida dashing away from him. Nefastis obviously failed at using language and rhetoric effectively. Inversely, Metzger manages to successfully seduce Oedipa with his game relating to the movie he stared in as a child that airs on television.