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Introduction Society everywher e i s i n conspirac y agains t th e manhood of every one of its members. —Emerson Henry Jame s spen t hi s las t afternoon s a s Napoleon , orderin g furnitur e b y imperial fiat . Friedric h Nietzsch e lat e i n hi s caree r assume d th e title s o f Caesar an d o f "Th e Crucified. " Augus t Strindberg , exhilarate d b y a lette r from "Nietzsch e Caesar, " signe d hi s repl y "Th e On e an d Onl y God. " Strindberg believe d tha t th e persecute d heroe s i n th e play s o f Henrik Ibse n were disguise d portrait s o f him , plagiarized , infuriatingly , fro m hi s ow n paranoid self-portrayal . Ibsen , i n turn , kep t a portrai t o f Strindber g ove r his writing desk , fo r inspiration . Hobbes wa s pathologicall y timorous , give n t o sudde n flights . Maupas sant suffere d fro m bout s o f persecution , a s di d E . T . A . Hoffmann . Scho penhauer slep t wit h a gu n besid e hi s bed . "Stendhal " kep t changin g hi s name. Imaginar y enemie s pursue d Hemingway . Jean-Jacque s Roussea u believed tha t h e wa s bein g persecute d b y th e entir e generatio n o f livin g Frenchmen, tha t hi s ever y mov e wa s bein g carefull y watched , hi s mai l an d publications controlled , t o prevent hi m fro m havin g acces s t o unprejudice d posterity. Th e secon d hal f o f hi s Confessions i s take n u p wit h th e plot s o f his enemies . H e attempte d t o plac e th e manuscrip t o f Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques, i n whic h h e minutel y weigh s th e charge s agains t hi s name , upon th e hig h alta r o f Notr e Dame . Thwarte d eve n there , h e recognize d that Go d to o was against him ; in his las t work, Reveries of a Solitary Walker, he attempte d a final escap e int o th e arm s o f nature . The dominan t figures o f moder n cultur e exhibi t a strang e susceptibilit y to delusions o f grandeur and fear s o f persecution upo n imaginar y grounds — in other words, t o paranoia. I n man y instance s th e conditio n remain s withi n the rang e o f ordinar y behavior . I t i s wha t ma y b e describe d technicall y a s a 'paranoi d slant' , a penchan t fo r over-estimatin g one' s ow n importance , a 1 2 • Introduction morbid concer n wit h autonom y an d control , an d th e rindin g o f hostil e motives i n othe r people' s behavior . Bu t i n a number o f cases, suc h a s thos e of Roussea u an d Nietzsche—no t th e leas t importan t figure s i n moder n culture—the conditio n reache s th e leve l o f a full-blow n psychosis . Strind berg 's diarie s revea l hi m t o b e th e maddes t o f author s wh o ca n stil l writ e with power . The eminenc e o f paranoi d figure s i n moder n philosoph y an d ar t migh t not b e significan t wer e i t confine d t o th e persona l live s o f th e writer s concerned. Bu t thi s i s hardl y th e case . Fo r bot h Roussea u an d Nietzsche , suspicion i s a driving motive of the work, alon g with a hysterical individual ism , a desperat e assertio n o f th e uniqueness , autonomy , an d powe r o f th e self. Th e suspiciou s hermeneuti c system s o f Nietzsche , Marx , an d Freu d are amon g th e mos t distinctiv e intellectua...

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