The Mechanics of Paranoia: The Weaponization of Conspiratorial Ideology in Literature and Beyond

This thesis examines how literature from the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries shapes and sustains conspiratorial thinking. Through narratives of invasion and surveillance paranoia these works construct frameworks of secrecy, hidden power, and epistemic uncertainty that continue to inform modern conspiracies. Rather than merely reflecting historical anxieties such literature actively cultivates suspicion reinforcing the idea that reality is governed by unseen forces. By analyzing the narrative structures unreliable perspectives and rhetorical strategies of early speculative fiction, this project argues that literary forms play a crucial role in producing, and even legitimizing, conspiratorial worldviews. By integrating literary analysis in an interdisciplinary approach, this thesis reveals how fiction helps produce the very modes of reading and belief that sustain conspiracy theories.