BE Spoiler (if that's possible now)

[Joseph Tracy]

Nice development of  thoughts on a shifting perspective. I have noted this transition as  a distinct shift toward a more forgiving, humane and comic tone.  The most dramatic turn is with Vineland.   Vineland is 1984/Brave New World deconstructed by  the counterculture,  the woman/child/freedom in the wilderness.  But while Maxine is the most self possessed and least driven by paranoia, partly this is a kind of capacity for denial in the service of commonsense.  Both  stories end in  custody battles and families working shit out.  ATD and IV have more violent conflict resolutions.  
On Dec 27, 2013, at 5:36 AM, Michael Bailey wrote:

> 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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