Living under looming war requires adapting psychologically to permanent low-grade dread

Evidence

These provinces of the phony war were habitable, even comfortable, provided you lived in them as if the air’s oxygen content were lowered, as if the light had imperceptibly dimmed: it was a world where there was no longer any good news: you survived by ignoring all extremities, concealed by guilty stratagems that shifted with every wind, from minute to minute, at the thought of what might happen; a world, in fact, of diseases that were painless but annoyingly prone to take a turn for the worse—a world of prognosis reserved. — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 138

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 138
• XREF: connects to: Prolonged wartime quiet feels like hunger presaging violence, not true peace — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 228; Being bypassed by a distant battle can produce a false sense of security — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 421; People can simultaneously dread and desire the catastrophic events they anticipate — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 509 (+10 more)

Library Connections

• A single overheard phrase can make distant war suddenly emotionally real #exemplifies (0.80) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 387

Broader Connections

• Extreme battlefield noise can annihilate thought and reduce a person to helpless reflex #exemplifies (0.75) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 424