paranoia & conspiracies

[Peter Mead]

I'd like to ask of the list if there has been a general agreement as to
TRP's use of paranoia & conspiracies in his books.  I know, it's
probably humorous to suggest any occurance of general agreement,
still...

	Specifically, it seems the keynote of every media review of Pynchon's
work involves paranoia and conspiracy.  I confess much of my reading has
been largely top level without full appreciation of the complex fugues
and allusions richly textured into the narrative.  Yet, the issue of
"paranoia" seems to me to be about extended experience and/or congruent
reality sets overlaid on a mysterious exponential that raises life to a
higher power (but sometimes takes on a chaotic character when directly
perceived, much like quanta is said to) than about (obsessive
delusional) persecution, supression, victimization.  While I realize
that The News must fill vacuums and TRP's desire to remain private feeds
this theme, jeez, seems everybody gets on this obsessional wagon.

	I think I remember in one of Pynchon's books that paranoia was
described as "everything is connected" but I might have read that
somewhere else.

	So my question is, has some consensus been reached on this subject?  If
this is old ground and I'm causing groans here, feel free to grab
Mittelwerk's gun and kill me with cultured moderation.

Peter Mead