Pynchon's work, in the most beautiful postmodern fashion, looked at all of the problems facing America and American society, and integrated them into a magnificent piece of literature. Narcissism, the drug culture of the 60's, conspiracy theories, paranoia, the confusion of identity, all these pieces are dropped onto the storyboard and with each reading, they fall off into the reader's hands.
Just as with any postmodernist text, Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 brings up multiple issues for the reader to struggle with. One particular issue that Pynchon seems to toy with is the acceptance of History as an absolute, fixed story. Within the text, Oedipa, Pynchon's protagonist, witnesses a play that assists in fanning a flame of curiosity about an underground mail system that may have existed in the past and continues to exist today. As the story progresses, Oedipa becomes focused on discovering the history behind the play's creation. Finally, she becomes convinced that there is in fact a truth about the hidden mail system. As she searches for the history, the reader is left wondering if Pynchon's historical account of the system is in fact true. He uses familiar settings like the Roman Empire, and uses factual events like the French Revolution, or the American Westward Migration to set the stage for his historical creation. In doing this, the reader becomes convinced or is nearly convinced that Pynchon is commenting on and telling an actual piece of history. His writing is so convincing there are many readers who have spent years looking into the possibility that Pynchon is simply describing an actual event under the guise of pseudonyms.
The important idea to draw away from this is not just that Pynchon can write well, but rather the implications of this are that History is open to interpretation and embellishment. Stop for a moment of ponder this thought. Pynchon begins with a play, a fictional presentation of some false event.