Repeat as necessary

[Hull, Rick L.]

Repeated Morse code transmissions of the letter "v" to find out whether 
anyone's out there receiving suggests the information-theory idea (perhaps 
its reductio ad absurdum) that the best way to get your message across is to 
keep it short and repeat it endlessly.  We see a lot of info theory in 
Pynchon, most vividly in _Lot 49_, where Oedipa's search for various things 
(including proof that an alternative system of communication among the 
preterite exists) has her repeatedly asking "Is anyone out there?" 
 Alternatively, she seems (seems, I know) to be getting repeated indicators 
that someone is trying to get a message across to her; Pierce Inverarity's 
(hope I remembered the correct spelling, and let's not even get into the 
info theory implications of that name) bequested quest to her may be an 
endless loop of messages intended to send one last, undying word to her.

Rick Hull