When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary, Philosophical and Cultural References
- Oedipus (1.1)
- Jay Gould (1.1)
- Muzak (1.2)
- Rapunzel (1.55)
- Remedios Varo, Bordando el Manto Terrestre (1.55)
- James Clerk Maxwell, "Maxwell's Demon" (4.17)
- Sigmund Freud (5.177)
- Carl Jung (5.177)
Historical References
Note: This book is chock-full of historical references, real and imagined. The book contains entire histories in which textbook history and fiction are seamlessly intertwined. Of course, that is part of Pynchon's point: that the historical and the fictional cannot be neatly separated (at least, not without a bunch of time spent in the library, checking references). We've pointed out some of the bigger references here.
- Gestapo (1.2)
- Czar Nicholas II (3.21)
- John Birch Society (3.24)
- Casa Nostra (3.92)
- Lago di Pieta (3.103)
- March on Washington (3.135)
- Young Republicans (3.138)
- Joe McCarthy (3.105)
- Barry Goldwater (4.67)
- Buddhist Monks (5.72)
- Buchenwald (5.177)
- Brussels Commune (6.77)
- Thurn und Taxis (6.77)
- Great Postal Reform of 1845 (6.120)
Pop Culture References
- Tupperware Party (1.1)
- Lamont Cranston, The Shadow (1.2)
- Jack Lemmon (1.11)
- Perry Mason (1.38)
- The Paranoids (meant to parody the Beatles and other British pop groups of the 1960s) (2.18)
- Lolita (2.5)
- Stockhausen, Radio Cologne (3.12)
- The Road Runner (3.131)
- Leon Schlesinger (4.38)
- Porky Pig (4.45)
- Ringo Starr (5.199)