A Study Of Paranoia In Pynchon’s The Crying Of Lot 49

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon(1937-),the National Book Award winner in 1974,is one of the most representative novelists in America.As the shortest novel among Pynchon’s works,The Crying of Lot 49 was published in 1966 and it is rich in descriptions on the heroine Oedipa’s paranoiac quest for a mysterious underground mailing system.Therefore,by applying the theory of paranoia illustrated by Sianne Ngai in her monograph Ugly Feelings,this thesis attempts to analyze the sociocultural reasons underlying Oedipa’s paranoia manifestations and figure out the developmental impetus this ugly feeling brings to both Oedipa herself and post-industrial society.This thesis is divided into five parts.The introductory section generally presents the background of Thomas Pynchon,his The Crying of Lot 49,literature review from home and abroad,the definition of paranoia applied as well as the framework of the thesis.Chapter one firstly elaborates the manifestations of Oedipa’s paranoia,including her utilization of projection,her suspicion of conspiracy and her hyperconnectivity of experience,which causes negative effects on herself.Chapter two analyzes the sociocultural reasons underlying Oedipa’s paranoia,including the paranoiac sociopolitical atmosphere under the lingering McCarthyism in the 1950 s and 1960 s,the marginalized female in the patriarchal culture as well as information ineffectiveness in post-industrial culture.Chapter three unveils the hidden power of Oedipa’s paranoia from perspectives of the individual,social groups and the whole society.Specifically speaking,Oedipa acquires her subjectivity as a female,accomplishes her assistance to other marginalized people and eventually enhances effective communication.In conclusion,although Oedipa’s paranoia makes her distrust both herself and others,it is also embodied with positive power: paranoia plays an important role in detecting the hidden drawbacks of the post-industrial society while at the same time releases its power.