The Name Game

The first thing one might notice in reading The Crying Of Lot 49 by Thomas Pincher was probably the names of his characters. I don’t really know is there is a reason or a connection he wants us to make but it’s very early in the book and I will have to see that later. The first name that caught my attention was the name of the character who appears to be the main one, Oedipa Mass. The first time you read this name, you will probably think about the famous ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex. Maybe this might be something further on in the book. The next character name that caught my attention in the first chapter was her husband’s name, Wendell Maas, but this is not the interesting part, it is how they call him, Mucho Maas. As soon as I read this I found myself laughing out loud at the book. The reason of this was because what this means in Spanish is “Much More”. So this is another name that I will try to find a reason for because someone called “Much More” is pretty uncommon. The last name that also made me laugh out loud was the name of her doctor, Dr. Hilarious. I don’t remember laughing at a book in al long time but Pynchon’s characters are exactly that, hilarious.