Lipton’s Journal/February 14, 1955/584

Kill or be killed is the lingua franca of hatred. It recognizes the motile power of hatred. For if the enemy symbolically kills us, then we change, we enter a new world. And if we kill the enemy then too we enter a new world. So hatred understood, accepted, even accentuated (which is the hysteric’s knowledge) leads to love. Which is Johnnie’s power.^[1] She is potentially a great lover and hater, and actually is a much larger hater and lover than most people admit to. It is the secret of her health, it is what keeps her going. If she were less guilty over her hatred, less ashamed of her raw love, she would be even healthier.

note

↑ Johnnie Lindner, Robert Lidner’s wife, who Mailer described as "a sort of pepper pot blonde, pepper pot fire . . . full of strong feelings, full of love, full of lust, full of fire, full of the inability to pardon.”

[1] Johnnie Lindner, Robert Lidner’s wife, who Mailer described as "a sort of pepper pot blonde, pepper pot fire . . . full of strong feelings, full of love, full of lust, full of fire, full of the inability to pardon.”

[1]