Pynchon's titles (was ...

[Paul Mackin]

Otto wrote:

>
> Pattern recognition. Counting and looking up the different meanings of 
> "lot" and "49" was the first thing I did when I first read the novel. 
> A new experience back then to discover that authors of novels are 
> indeed working with the dictionary of their mother tongue (a sort of 
> corroborating their data: words) while composing their texts.
>
> (9)   car lot - Autohof (11)
> (15) autolots- Autofriedhöfe (20)
> (16) Oedipa pulled into a lot - Parkplatz (22)
> (17) we watch English movies a lot - Wir gehn viel in englische Filme 
> (22) (why it's 'gehn' instead of 'gehen' I don't know, maybe a typo)
> (29) about to be broken up into lots - für irgendeine Auktion in 
> Nummern aufgeteilt zu werden. (37)
> (34) lots in the heart of downtown LA - Damals  hätten Sie während der 
> Hochkonjunktur mitten in der Innenstadt von L.A. Bauparzellen für 63 
> Cent das Stück kaufen können. (43)


Did you ever notice how often in GR that "lot" is used to mean "group of 
several people."

The psi-section lot

The pisces lot

An unfriendly lot

Many more examples,  especially in part 1, because this usage of the 
word is mainly British.

>
> What I did not find in the novel was an example of lot as "Schicksal" 
> or "Geschick".


Missed opportunity to use the word this way when Metzger kisses 
Oedipa's  palm and "fate's furrow," which P might as easitly have called 
her "lot line."


P.