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Paranoid fiction
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Paranoid fiction is a term sometimes used to describe works of literature that explores the

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subjective nature of reality and how it can be manipulated by forces in power. [1] These forces can be
external, such as a totalitarian government, or they can be internal, such as a character's mental
illness or refusal to accept the harshness of the world he is in.

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Unlike speculative fiction, paranoid fiction is written in a way so as to imply that the story may only
be a delusion of the characters, instead of treating it as an alternate history or an in-fiction universe.
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1 History of paranoid fiction

About Wikipedia

2 Characteristics of paranoid fiction

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3 Authors of paranoid fiction

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4 Films considered to be paranoid fiction

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5 References

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History of paranoid fiction

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The elements of paranoid fiction can be seen in works dating as far back as the first half of the 20th
century. Franz Kafka, in particular, was known for his exaggerated accounts of what he portrayed as
real life in his works, to enhance the absurdity of the life themes they conveyed. Similarly, George
Orwell's works, while not as exaggerated, confirmed the practice of using dystopian fiction to take a
different outlook on highly common themes, including identity and personal desires.
The term paranoid fiction was first coined to label sensationalistic and off-beat stories as bizarre and
thus outside the realm of literary fiction. Starting after World War I, however, modernists began
exploring the stranger themes of life in art, in response to the themes of death being effectively
mechanized and made impossible to toy with by the war's graphic depictions. As a result, modernist
literature tended to explore the meaning and construction of reality, shifting away from the
progressive, cause-and-effect structure of realist fiction towards a more complex and disjointed
depiction of reality. [2]
After World War II, absurdists carried this focus one step further by placing these common themes in
surreal and fantastic settings, turning what would have been otherwise mundane concepts into
distinctive, stand-out ones, thus converting the paranoid fiction genre into a legitimate one.
Philip K. Dick is most frequently viewed as the forefather of the modern paranoid fiction. His works
were literally born out of paranoia and hallucination; he had sudden visions of places he'd never been
to and events he'd never witnessed, possibly from temporal lobe epilepsy or an overly active
imagination. These visions were so vivid that Dick put them down on paper, never failing to classify
them as only "speculative thought," and thus outside the boundary of conventional thought.[3]
Most of Dick's works start out uneventfully in a seemingly ordinary setting, then transpose to a
surrealistic fantasy, with the characters discovering that what they thought real was in fact a delusion.
Throughout his works, Dick maintained a balance between the expected traits of the science fiction
genre they were also categorized in, and the eccentric and disturbing elements coming from his
mind.[4] A recurring theme in his works is on how reality is perceived and treated differently by
people depending on their mindsets.

Characteristics of paranoid fiction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_fiction[27/02/2012 09:21:48]

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Paranoid fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At its most basic, paranoid fiction refers specifically to works about speculations and possible
conspiracies by people in power, told by an unreliable narrator.[4] However, the most popular type of
paranoid fiction has proved to be one in which the universe appears on the surface to be definite and
real, but upon closer inspection, to actually be deceptive and deliberately misleading. In these works,
there are either questions raised as to the realness of the world the characters are living in, or a
distinction made between a fantasy world and its reality.
Paranoid fiction often overlaps with many other genres, most commonly dystopian fiction, science
fiction, and film noir, sharing many of its main themes and literary devices. Generally, however,
paranoid fiction avoids explicitly defined themes and concrete motifs in favor of allegories and
ambiguous symbolism to emphasize the dreamlike and unreal nature of the characters' world.[5] For
example, a purely dystopian work typically explores the mechanisms and motives of the totalitarian
state to keep its people under control, whereas one of paranoid fiction would concentrate more on the
effects of the state on its inhabitants' mental and emotional well-being, and its implications on the
decadent condition of society. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four can be viewed as a balance of
the two, depicting the Party as crushing free will through a strictly defined language and constant
monitoring, but also through psychological torture and the distorting of people's viewpoints on what is
true and what is false.
To further increase their "magic realism," works of paranoid fiction often employ common devices and
archetypes from other genres, including a detective-solving structure, plot twists, or philosophical
themes, to create a surrealistic tone and an atmosphere of fear and dread. Plots also tend to be
fanciful and occasionally futuristic to emphasize their inherent absurdity and imaginativeness, but also
maintain some measure of realism to comment on how apparently unrealistic stories can, in fact, be
(often frighteningly) closer to real life than one might think at first glance.[5]
Sometimes paranoid fiction will strongly imply, and occasionally admit outright, that its constructed
world is a lie or an illusion. In this case, the plot will center on the main character's struggle between
the physical and spiritual; i.e. the actual world they are in, versus the world they want to see and
believe in. Here, the cause of the fantasy is the protagonist's internal desires, doubts, and suspicions.
Such works tend to be more introspective and focused on the individual, than on a community or
regime. [citation needed]

Authors of paranoid fiction

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William S. Burroughs
Philip K. Dick
H. P. Lovecraft
Thomas Pynchon
Stephen R. Donaldson
Robert Anton Wilson
Trevor Shane
E. M. Foster The Machine Stops

Films considered to be paranoid fiction

Blade Runner
Fight Club
The Game
Jacob's Ladder
The Matrix
American Psycho- Although not explicitly stated, it is somewhat hinted at.
Shutter Island
Vanilla sky
Melvin goes to dinner
Primer
The Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_fiction[27/02/2012 09:21:48]

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Paranoid fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Prisoner
Taxi Driver (film)

References

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1. ^ Postmodern Perspective: The Paranoid Eye. New Literary History.Volume 28, Number 1, Winter 1997,
pp. 87-109
2. ^ Lye, John (1997). "Some Attributes of Modernist Literature."
3. ^ Davis, Erik. "Philip K. Dick's Divine Interference."
4. ^ a b "Strange Words: Paranoid."
5. ^ a b "Paranoid Fiction."
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