Will's Students- Borenstei

[David Andignac]

I would say that Pynchon's use of paranoia is a bit more subtle but
ego-based as you assert. The paranoia of his characters seems to occur out
of the need to place an order structure on the world around them. This
structure may be hostile or benevolent, but the characters seek this out in
order to conteract the chaos around them. Paranois structure, whether
centering on some secret society, government agency or even religious deity,
is a reasonable alternative to a world where things just happen with no
apparent reason. It is a defense mechanism for dealing with the lack of any
knowable Truth.

Just some thoughts,

David A. 



At 03:08 PM 5/16/96 -0800, you wrote:
>Date	5/16/96
>Subject	Will's Students-  Borenstei
>From	WillL
>To	Pynchon List, Wallace List
>
>Will's Students:  Borenstein
>Dispatch # 4 from Washington DC's Field School.  Sylvia Borenstein wonders
about
>the paranoid effect of reading "Lot 49" just weeks before the "coincidence" of
>"Leviathan" and the Unabomber.
>
>-- Will Layman
>
>*********
>
>"The  Crying of Lot 49" discusses the subject of paranoia in heavy detail.  In
>my contemporary literature class we have discussed what paranoia means.  Not
>only is it a severe mental disorder where the victim cannot trust anyone
because
>he believes everyone is against him, but it is also the mark of a person with a
>large ego.  Isn't it rather bold for a person to believe that an entire
>government would try to attack them because they figured out that their
>street-lights form a pattern of  sausage links?  If we look at paranoia in that
>regard and of course on a much smaller scale, we could all be a little paranoid
>at times.  We may not think the CIA is plotting to get us but you must admit
>that sometimes you'll think that there forces that are reading your mind to
make
>your life easier.  For example last year I took a modern European History class
>and we spent a large portion of the year studying the Holocaust.  Tell me if it
>was coincidence or not that the same year I decide to take this class it is
also
>the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps.  So I was able to
>further my knowledge of this turbulent time period through magazine
articles and
>documentaries.  Now I am wondering if it's convenient coincidence or if I am
>paranoid in thinking that while I am reading Paul Auster's "Leviathan"  (which
>is about a man who bombs public areas that have replicas of the statue of
>liberty)  the Unabomber (a man who bombed certain designated people and areas)
>is caught.  It seems like Thomas Pychon's novel has heightened my paranoia, and
>I believe there is a connection and I believe that there was a reason that I
>read "Leviathan" while all of the Unabomber mess has occurred.  It is a way for
>me to see beyond the crazed look in Ted Kaczinki's eyes. I think that
>"Leviathan" has shown me that it is possible for him to be human.
>
>-- Sylvia Borenstein
>
>
>
>