Pynchon's Repetition of Kierkegaard's Post Horn: Theology, Communication Theory, and The Crying of Lot 49

Søren Kierkegaard's writings influenced several American novelists of the 1950s, including (despite the dearth of critical literature on the connection) Thomas Pynchon. Kierkegaard's view of the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and comedy's capacity to mediate between them,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Literature and theology
Main Author: Dill, Scott (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press [2018]
In: Literature and theology
RelBib Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
FA Theology
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
NCA Ethics
VA Philosophy
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Summary:Søren Kierkegaard's writings influenced several American novelists of the 1950s, including (despite the dearth of critical literature on the connection) Thomas Pynchon. Kierkegaard's view of the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and comedy's capacity to mediate between them, is at the heart of how The Crying of Lot 49 approaches the problem of human communication. It is most directly evident, however, in the novel's symbolic use of the post horn. This article argues that the novel's post horns repeat Kierkegaard's post horn in Repetition, thereby proposing the theological source behind Pynchon's ironic rendering of secular experience.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frx004