I Want Paranoid Literature

Cafe Society
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You probably know what I mean. Books like 1984, where the protagonist must watch his every move. I loved the sense of tension that ran through 1984 as Winston Smith tried to conceal his diary, his love affair, his very thoughts from, well, everybody.

Another paranoid story that occurs to me is Disclosure. In this book and movie by Crichton, we more-or-less knew who was after the main character, but we also knew that not everybody was who they were supposed to be.

A better example would be the movie Blade Runner–Decker was after some people, they were after him, things just didn’t add up, and there was even the question of what the main character was. And almost every scene contained a certain grittiness and a hard-to-describe sense of “not-rightness.”

An X-Files book would probably work for me, with the conspiracies and the good guys who might really be bad guys and vice versa.

Somebody’s after me but I don’t know who . . . Big Brother’s watching . . . trust Nobody . . . me against this big evil duplicitous world . . . am I losing my mind . . . don’t turn your back . . . these are the things I’m after in my next book purchase. The one guy who’s alone in the midst of some badness or other and he can’t trust anybody, not even his friends . . . perhaps especially not his friends.

Do you guys understand what I’m trying to ask for?

I don’t really care what genre. Most of my fiction is horror, but I also like sci fi, some military fiction, the occasional spy novel–you name it. Westerns and romances are usually turn-offs for me, but even here there are exceptions.

So, can anybody suggest some books where people aren’t necessarily who or what they say they are, where the you’ve got to not only watch your every step but every facial expression, and where every single page contains some element of menace or paranoia?

I also like movies like this, and suggests for videos would be welcome, but it’s books I’m having a hard time finding right now.

Thanks in advance. :slight_smile:

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If you don’t mind the subject matter (it’s about rich, aimless L.A. teens), Bret Ellis’ book Less than Zero was very very paranoid. Don’t bother with the movie, though.

The most paranoid movie I’ve ever seen might be Polanski’s The Tenant but it might be hard to find on video.

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You might enjoy short stores by Edgar Allen Poe.

He features quite a few about people getting burried alive, or walled up inside dark basements and what not.

Very macabre. I love Poe - one of my favorite authors.

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You mentioned “Blade Runner”- how 'bout just about anything by Phillip K. Dick? “Ubik” would be a good start.

Thomas Pynchon- I believe “Gravity’s Rainbow” is know as the paranoid’s bible. Or “The Crying of Lot 49.”

William Burroughs has some major themes of paranoia.

I think these are just the kinds of books you have in mind. Trust me. I know. I’ve been watching you…

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Then you might like to consider Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s towering epic “Illuminatus!” which bears a reviewer’s quote to the effect that it is a “fairytale for paranoids”.

But it is fnord probably a bit lighter fnord than you are fnord looking for. Fnord, fnord fnord.

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Great suggestions.

LC Strawhouse: I vaguely remember the movie Less Than Zero, but can’t remember if I liked it or not. I didn’t know it was based on a book–I’ll check it out next time I’m at the store. I’ve heard of the movie, Tenant, and think (but am not sure) that I even saw it at Hastings one time.

alice_in_wonderland: Some of EAP’s stories would probably fit the bill but, unfortunately, I’ve read nearly all his stuff. My little sister got me a collection of all the stories and poems he ever published for Christmas one year. Macabre indeed.

betenoir: I can only think of two PKD stories I’ve read. One was about somebody mucking around on some future battlefield and the other was “Do Androids Dream About Electric Sheep” AKA Blade Runner. Otherwise I haven’t, to my knowledge, read anything by him–I’ve never even heard of this “Ubik.” Just a symptom I guess of what more than one sci fi fan has told me is a shortcoming of mine in the Dick department–um, nevermind. The other books you mentioned sound pretty good, your “paranoid’s bible,” in particular. I guess I also need to check out Burroughs–I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never read anything by this guy, probably making me a minority of one.

Princhester: Although I’m really not looking for light reading, something with the title “Illuminatus” is certainly worth checking out in any quest for conspiracies and paranoia. Thanks fnord the suggestion!

These are great. Keep them coming, people. Thanks. :slight_smile:

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“Illuminatus!” is a trilogy. You may find it in one volume, or you may see it in three. I can’t think of the names of the individual parts, for the moment. It is both light and very very heavy in it’s own exceedingly peculiar way. It was a book I read over and over and over again at one time. Strangely, because the order of the story is all jumbled up anyway, you can read any of the three parts in any order, it makes no difference.

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I don’t get it. Why were there a comma and a period after “looking for.”?
And, it’s a movie instead of literature, but there’s always Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
RR

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I agree with the suggestion of PK Dick. Most of his stories have a character that is extremely paranoid. I’d suggest Time out of Joint and A Scanner Darkly for starters.

A Scanner Darkly is the among the most creepy books that I have ever read.

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I know a lot of good literature with a paranoia theme, but I don’t trust you enough to tell you what they are.

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I would recommend Franz Kafka, especially “The Trial” (Der Prozess), but I’m afraid to do it. So instead I’ll say

there must be plenty of good literature and movies for paranoids out there. I believe Orson Welles made a pretty good movie from one of the books mentioned in this thread, but I can’t remember which one.

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Hint: You can read this by highlighting it.

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Nitpick: The title of Kafka’s “The Trial” is “Die Profrung” in German, not “Der Prozess.”

UnuMondo

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Why are you asking ME ?

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No, it’s definitely Der Prozes. I even grabbed my copy to check. This lot agree, and they should know.

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Sorry, that’s Prozess. And I even previewed.

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FATHERLAND by Robert Harris is a fantastic book about life post-WW2, a war in which Germany won & the SS abound.

I would also second ‘The Trial’ by Kafka.

For a more light-hearted look at paranoia check out ‘Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas’ by Hunter. S. Thompson.

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Oh, and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ in also highly recommended.
Ray Bradbury, I believe.

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Get some of the SF mavens to recommend stuff. Paranoid Fiction is an entire contemporary SF subgenre, it seems.

Try John Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up, for example.

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There are a couple good ones I could from the Madness in Literature class I took a couple of years ago: Surfacing by Marget Atwood and ** The Crying of Lot 49** by Thomas Pynchon. The latter is especially paranoid.

[sub]psst…I also write paranoid x-files type stuff, e-mail me for a link if you’d like.[/sub]