BE Spoiler (if that's possible now)

[Michael Bailey]

David suggests apology for previous paranoia and I wonder...
We've mentioned paranoia a few times on the list (-;

..functionally (& simplistically - Lacan's treatment, which Pynchon shows
signs of being interested in, is much more involved) isn't it being
inappropriately worried about danger, specifically dangers created
purposefully by agencies outside one's control, to the point where it
hampers one and creates states of mind that may be amusing to read about
but unpleasant to experience or encounter in a friend or acquaintance?

Maxine, unlike Oedipa (whose tale is arguably an explication of paranoia
and how to confront it), isn't giving off paranoid vibes at all.  Wariness,
sure, but not any kind of crippling, twisted fear of conspiracies.  So if
the "stages of life as successive mental illnesses" theory propounded early
on applies to the author, perhaps he's reached an accommodation with the
causes for fear. Or something.

If in V. we find an unwillingness to lapse into paranoia (as evidenced by
Eigenvalue's "no cabals but random caries") and a message that after
sifting leaves the possibility of keeping cool but still caring...

...if in CoL49 we encounter a mindset and inquiry of a more dire nature -
post "offing of President 35" - and if Oedipa's dawning awareness leads
into investigation and a determination to keep learning and networking as
evidenced by her attendance at the auction...

...if in GR various ways of viewing real and fancied dangers, their
sources, and the inefficacy of known strategies other than whimsy and luck
are encyclopedically displayed with keys to the various and sundry
scriptures...and paranoia looked in the eye till it blinks...

...if in AtD the real-world forces of economy and so forth are personified
as they developed, and people's imaginative and emotional responses, back
then, shown in a variety of characters and what befell them, in intriguing
enough detail to perhaps indicate that v (gently batting paranoia away) to
c49 (resolving to investigate) to gr (manifesting the causes of paranoia in
antic yet clear and rational view) like tinker to evers to chance, or Miles
running the voodoo down, dealt with it fully and there's no more needing to
be said on the topic....

So then when Doc stumbles and staggers his way to a deeper appreciation of
who They are and what They might be about, his detecting is perceptive
enough that even They appreciate it...

And Maxine carries the torch further, empowered but incompletely official -
with the saving grace of having lost her credential through doing a favor
for a friend - stepping with confidence when she can or withdrawing
prudently when advisable, such as on Ice's cellar stairs...networking,
seeking and finding clues, being cool but caring better than Benny Profane
or Stencil ever could.
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