"paranoid style"

[Mark Kohut]

Hofstadter's Harper's first published version of these ideas I once posted at the Pynchon wiki for Lot 49, I believe. Harper's 1964 and online, I believe. Worth reading, of course, especially if one doesn't have the book nor time for it, which adds a lot of historic depth to the seminal ideas of  the essay.  

Yes, very important to have discipline in understanding the concept of paranoia in American history. Hofstadter has it, of course, and it seems very possible Pynchon used it for understanding, for particularly that Bircher-like guy in Lot 49, perhaps part of the whole concept of a conspiracy in history? 

--- On Sat, 9/26/09, Doug Millison <dougmillison at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Doug Millison <dougmillison at comcast.net>
> Subject: "paranoid style"
> To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009, 7:36 PM
> David Greenberg: Everyone talks about
> the "paranoid style," but what did Hofstadter really mean by
> it?
> http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/117379.html
>