Mystery and History, Discovery and Recovery in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and Graham Swift's Waterland

Abstract

Despite the privileging of difference by postmodern theories, there is a tendency to regard postmodernism as a universal cultural phenomenon. The map of postmodernism may, however, need boundary revision since, as I argue, postmodern novels like The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon (American), and Waterland, by Graham Swift (English), demonstrate the persistence of national historical/cultural differences. Lot 49 and Waterland exemplify features that critics see as characteristically postmodern, such as literary self-consciousness, the use of the detective/mystery plot, and a resistance to closure. Yet they also conform to, as well as confirm, traditional distinctions, including those of British and American detective fiction, American romance and English realism. Moreover, Lot 49 and Waterland sustain customary assumptions about divergent national perspectives, as this essay demonstrates through an exploration of the contrast between the overall orientation of the novels captured in oppositions of mystery and history, and of discovery and recovery.