The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/A New Politics of Form in Harlot's Ghost: Difference between revisions

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[n]ext, we were asked to visualize a wall, a table, a lamp. If the first three digits of the telephone number were 586, we were to picture a red wall behind a gray table on which was sitting an orange lamp. For the succeeding four numbers, we might visualize a woman in a purple jacket, green skirt, and yellow shoes sitting on an orange chair. That was our mental notation for 4216. By such means,586-4216 had been converted into a picture with seven colored objects.... I became so proficient at these equivalents that I saw hues so soon as I heard numbers. (197–198)</blockquote>
[n]ext, we were asked to visualize a wall, a table, a lamp. If the first three digits of the telephone number were 586, we were to picture a red wall behind a gray table on which was sitting an orange lamp. For the succeeding four numbers, we might visualize a woman in a purple jacket, green skirt, and yellow shoes sitting on an orange chair. That was our mental notation for 4216. By such means,586-4216 had been converted into a picture with seven colored objects.... I became so proficient at these equivalents that I saw hues so soon as I heard numbers. (197–198)</blockquote>


Espionage is the art of metaphor. Representation allows transformation,
the alteration of “appearances” and signifiers creating powerful new meanings. This is what agents learn in their CIA schooling, according to Mailer. They don’t just master symbols, metaphors, codes, and figures of speech; they also master influence over others. This is Harlot’s specialty, what he trains agents in, and he stresses that influencing individuals through the art of espionage is linked with the struggle to influence history. This is made particularly clear when “counter-espionage,” or developing double agents, is taught by Harlot and practiced by Hubbard in Uruguay. Hubbard describes feeling a loyalty to his “creation” Chevi Fuertes, a leftist won over to the CIA
who eventually defects to Cuba after the Bay of Pigs fails to create effective characters or characters misunderstood by critics. Through these and other episodes in the CIA, we see that Hubbard’s grand ambitions parallel Mailer’s, and interestingly, generally lead to failure.


It is not just Harry that can be seen as embodying elements of Mailer’s
worldview. Kittredge, a woman agent married to both Harry and Harlot at
different times in the novel, is a career psychologist and theorist for the CIA, and she also articulates a theory of personality that shares much in common with Mailer’s views. (Mailer’s worldview is frequently given voice in almost all of his novels since ''An American Dream''.) Her explanations of human behavior are direct articulations of Mailer’s theories of the human personality, to the degree that her theories seems straight out of Mailer’s essays on Henry Miller, collected in the anthology ''Genius and Lust'', or even Mailer’s last collection of reflections, ''On God: An Uncommon Conversation''.{{efn|15. See Mailer, ''Genius and Lust''.}} She articulates, in great detail, Mailer’s oft-stated theory of the dual nature of the human personality and the concept of the “Alpha and Omega” of the psyche; the two-sided, male-female, divided nature of the human personality. She explains that when one acts in a destructive or ineffective manner, this should be understood as the inability to reconcile two sides of an individual’s personality. Although she has had a successful career as the CIA’s
in-house psychologist and philosopher, she has a problem: her career is failing. In fact, it is an interesting fact that despite her championing of Mailer’s views, she is in despair. It is a sign of Mailer’s own self-critical ability to question his own perspective that characters fail and flounder despite articulating views close to Mailer’s. She writes:


<blockquote>Harry, for the last five years, I have carried this burden of woe, doubt, misery, and burgeoning frustration...
Harry, life has always treated me as a darling, and for much too long. If my mother merely adored me my father more than made up for it.... My brain was so fertile that I could have gone off to a desert island and been deliriously happy with myself. The only pains I knew were the ferocious congestions attendant on new ideas. (556–557)</blockquote>






Espionage is the art of metaphor. Representation allows transformation,
the alteration of “appearances” and signifiers creating powerful new meanings. This is what agents learn in their CIA schooling, according to Mailer.
They don’t just master symbols, metaphors, codes, and figures of speech;
they also master influence over others. This is Harlot’s specialty, what he
trains agents in, and he stresses that influencing individuals through the art
of espionage is linked with the struggle to influence history. This is made
particularly clear when “counter-espionage,” or developing double agents, is
taught by Harlot and practiced by Hubbard in Uruguay. Hubbard describes
feeling a loyalty to his “creation” Chevi Fuertes, a leftist won over to the CIA
who eventually defects to Cuba after the Bay of Pigs fails to create effective
characters or characters misunderstood by critics. Through these and other
episodes in the CIA, we see that Hubbard’s grand ambitions parallel Mailer’s, and interestingly, generally lead to failure.


It is not just Harry that can be seen as embodying elements of Mailer’s
worldview. Kittredge, a woman agent married to both Harry and Harlot at
different times in the novel, is a career psychologist and theorist for the CIA,
and she also articulates a theory of personality that shares much in common with Mailer’s views. ~Mailer’s worldview is frequently given voice in
almost all of his novels since An American Dream.! Her explanations of
human behavior are direct articulations of Mailer’s theories of the human
personality, to the degree that her theories seems straight out of Mailer’s
essays on Henry Miller, collected in the anthology Genius and Lust, or even
Mailer’s last collection of reflections, On God: An Uncommon Conversation.
15
She articulates, in great detail, Mailer’s oft-stated theory of the dual nature
of the human personality and the concept of the “Alpha and Omega” of the psyche; the two-sided, male-female, divided nature of the human personality. She explains that when one acts in a destructive or ineffective manner,
this should be understood as the inability to reconcile two sides of an individual’s personality. Although she has had a successful career as the CIA’s
in-house psychologist and philosopher, she has a problem: her career is failing. In fact, it is an interesting fact that despite her championing of Mailer’s
views, she is in despair. It is a sign of Mailer’s own self-critical ability to question his own perspective that characters fail and flounder despite articulating views close to Mailer’s. She writes:


<blockquote>Harry, for the last five years, I have carried this burden of woe,
doubt, misery, and burgeoning frustration...
Harry, life has always treated me as a darling, and for much
too long. If my mother merely adored me my father more than
made up for it.... My brain was so fertile that I could have gone
off to a desert island and been deliriously happy with myself. The
only pains I knew were the ferocious congestions attendant on
new ideas. ~556–557!</blockquote>


Mailer has described feeling as if he were the literary darling of critics after
Mailer has described feeling as if he were the literary darling of critics after
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15. See Mailer, Genius and Lust.
 
16. The most famous version of this comes from Francis Fukiyama’s book. He has since basically abandoned his thesis and now warns of the dangers to civilization by “radical Islamist” forces.
16. The most famous version of this comes from Francis Fukiyama’s book. He has since basically abandoned his thesis and now warns of the dangers to civilization by “radical Islamist” forces.


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