Not a Clue

by Chloé Delaume

  Well of course I was watching what was going on. In the margin, I’m always hiding in the margin, that’s part of my job, to wait in the margin and then come out at the right time. The right time is when the story starts to stagnate, when the reader needs information. Are you doing it on purpose or what. I’m responsible for all the administrative paperwork: setting, context, archives, genealogies, descriptions, and that’s not all. I left it to you to see what would happen and it’s a catastrophe. Oh it is too a catastrophe. If publishers had a system to determine how many readers give up after each page, your figures would be in freefall, I’d bet on it. That’s not the issue. Certainly you can tell me a thing or two about literary freedom unencumbered by the laws of supply and demand Rouault. Are you all schizophrenic or what? Now you’ve done it I’ve lost my temper.

  I’m not going to beat around the bush my darlings. I’m responsible for making sure the story runs smoothly, we’re in the home stretch, so I’m telling you it’s time to toe the line. No buts. You’re going to toe the line and that’s it. Come on, everybody in your place. Maupin, Rouault, Derdega, Courtin, and Duval go back to the smoking lounge, and make it snappy. No there’s no secret passage between this book and Stanislas’s Divine Comedy, there’s no way out of here for you, you’ve been wandering around for no reason for twenty-seven pages, if you’re that clueless it’s not my fault. The secondary characters from the Piera Aulagnier wing should go back to the positions they were originally given and without talking please. Mr. Tawrance, please be kind enough to take your Remington and to. Thank you. Officers, you may leave. Dr. Black, for the last time will you please put a stop your whining. You have no right to tell me I’m not grateful for what I’ve been given, that’s utterly ridiculous. I existed before you too. However, given what you symbolize in the story I can’t just fire you, and I can’t even just get rid of you without previous authorization from my direct superior. No that’s not you my poor poor friend, you really don’t suspect a thing sometimes it’s hard to believe. Le Guigleur in the Study, over to you. Stop being so pigheaded.

  Mr. Green

  No need to wait for Marc Le Guigleur’s funeral to be celebrated to hear at his mention the solemn off-screen voice you hear at the beginning of the movie Les Grandes familles comes on TV. Yet Marc Le Guigleur is by no means the progeny of a noble line, he’s just a self-taught man with a chiseled face and rather heavy steps that crack the asphalt. The terrible power of wealth. Over time Marc managed to get his paws on a good number of organizations because if you’re going to own it may as well be known. What terrible things would happen if God placed it in the wrong hands. Marc Le GuigleurTM has been available in Paris and several French provinces for over three decades: Marc Glousseau Industries, Marc Le Guigleur Consulting, Marc Le Guigleur Reporting, Marc Le Guigleur Printing, Marc Le Guigleur Publishing, Marc Le Guigleur Gallery, http://marcleguigleur.com. Like any good business leader, Marc is proud of the utter devotion of his staff and of the deference his multiple relations show every day because when they say hello everyone calls him Mr. Marc. He’s unaware of the joke since its obvious punch line is hidden when it’s spoken. He’s also unaware that his second nickname is Mr. Twentieth Century. Nonetheless, Marc Le Guigleur knows a lot of other things because to succeed in business you have to be well informed.

  Marc Le Guigleur is bored. Really bored. Incredibly bored. To fight the vertigo that takes hold of him every time he dives into his own mind, Marc buys toys. He loves yo-yos and Barbie dolls, but tin soldiers, puppets, Guignol figures, styling heads, and plastic clowns will do the trick as well. It depends on his mood and a little on chance too. Marc commits his shopping as his meetings allow and once his choice is made his new figurine must undergo his ritual. He takes it out of the box, stuffs it with porcelain tea party delicacies, makes it his favorite, publicly neglecting the rest of his toys, generously fills the wardrobe or the bookshelf as the sex of his new acquisition dictates, organizes grand balls or puppet shows in honor of the chosen one, and then he gathers information. Marc likes to be informed. He scrupulously makes note of each toy’s reaction to the sharp stimuli he manages to inflict. And accordingly he establishes the rules of the game to be played. He’s the only one who really knows them, changes them constantly without necessarily following them, otherwise what would be the point.

  Many people have considered what can push such a man, even if he is Too Twentieth Century, to act in such a way. Three non-exhaustive reasons: because he has more money than he knows what to do with or because he had a difficult childhood or because he’s just a little bit of a psychopath.

  The term psychopathy is used in psychiatry to indicate a personality disorder similar to instinctive perversion. For many years the psychoanalytic school described this pathology as a character neurosis, originating in a lack or a dysfunction of the superego. According to Didier Moulinier, phenomenologically the psychopathy reveals itself when the impulse is acted upon and it is notably distinct from psychotic delirium. Lacan defines it as behavior that can in no case constitute the structure of the subject or even indicate such a pathology in isolation. He links psychopathy with the superego as the locus of confrontation between the subject and the law, resulting in a delocalization of the definition of the concept through its being re-centered on the subject, and in particular on the confrontation between the subject and castration. Actually, the superego has the perversity of wanting to deny castration by ordering the ego to answer its injunctions and by blaming it. So that means that the notion of psychopathy links up with narcissism, as a defensive attitude of the subject facing castration, and thereby is as relevant in a perverse psychotic structure as in a neurotic one. Psychopathy characterizes an ego that identifies only with the superego; its danger stems from the desire to apply a strictly punitive law, often leading to criminal violence. Unlike a structural perversion, psychopathic law doesn’t only command sexual pleasure, the law also commands the act and promulgates itself therein specifically, in this Parousia. It is important to notice that the act itself, in tune with the subject’s fundamental narcissism, will eventually prove to be self-destructive—although this does not exactly mean suicidal. Violent and spectacular death, apocalyptic death is the horizon of the subject’s actions. This is why the only way toward radical non-psychopathy (both for the subject and their potential victims) consists in embodying death, playing dead, thereby making carrying out the act definitively obsolete close quotes.

  Marc chooses his toys in the Suffering & Poverty aisle. They are in compliance with the ec warmwater machine washing standards not suitable for children under thirty-six months and because secondhand not very sturdy. Furthermore, their accident-damaged biography promises some fascinating stories for cold winter’s nights, not to mention the ease with which they succumb to gratitude.

  In 1941 Hervey Cleckley published a book entitled The Mask of Sanity and its influence on the conception of psychopathy is still felt. According to Cleckley, psychopathy is a serious disorder, similar to psychosis in certain ways. A psychopath’s behavior appears rational and leads the uninitiated to believe they are interacting with a normal individual. In fact, psychopaths are able to imitate the subtle emotions of authentic human beings without, however, being able to feel them. Psychopaths therefore lack both love for others and any feelings of guilt. The superficial charm they are endowed with allows them to camouflage any attempt to lie or pretend. Psychopaths are self-centered, seek immediate sensory experiences, and are unpredictable. Therefore, their actions are unplanned and arbitrary. Since they do not know how to manage their frustrations in socially acceptable ways, they have a tendency to be aggressive or even violent.

  Marc is very lucky because on display in the Suffering & Poverty aisle there’s a particularly neat kind of toy they call orphans. No matter how dilapidated they are, this model runs on simple alkaline batteries and an activation of the Oedipus or some similar complex. The use of terms like confidence, friendship, respect, community, unders
tanding, security, or even worth allows for absolute control when they’re combined with expressions like you don’t have to be afraid anymore, I’m proud of you, and of course the incomparable you have a family now.

  According to Cleckley, a group of sixteen characteristics distinguishes psychopaths from the rest of the population: superficial charm, absence of psychotic symptoms, absence of nervousness, lack of dependability, lack of sincerity, absence of remorse or shame, inadequately motivated antisocial behavior, inability to learn from experience, egocentricity and inability to love, emotional inadequacy, lack of introspection, insensitivity toward interpersonal relationships, unappealing behavior, manipulative threats of suicide, sexual promiscuity, and inability to plan long term.

  Marc works a lot and only knows how to have fun in work settings. Marc Le Guigleur’s closest associates change frequently, which is unfortunate because every single time they all have a ton of things in common. Now, a winning team can only be made up of structurally homogeneous elements, which in such a favorable climate can passionately develop their complementarity. Marc Le Guigleur’s closest associates join the company thanking God and not understanding why the nice daddy is so denigrated by his former favorites. Tooth and nail they defend their praiseworthy savior, suspecting jealousy in the heart of each detractor before one gets pilloried and the rest trimmed away when the end of the game tolls for them. Relegated to the great trunk of broken toys, each one finally understands that if in all the branches of Marc Le Guigleur’s businesses he still hasn’t managed to pull off this or that and to rise to monopoly glory or even make a name for himself other than a nick, it’s because he always saws through the one he’s just sat on.

  This series of characteristics constitutes the source in which Hare (1985) found his inspiration to formulate more of a working definition of psychopathy. According to Hare, psychopathy is a personality disorder defined by a scattering of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral characteristics. At the center of these is a profound lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse, marked indifference toward other people’s rights, feelings, and well-being. Psychopaths are typically talkative, self-centered, insensitive, liars, manipulative, impulsive, thrill seeking, irresponsible, and have no conscience. Psychopaths have no trouble disregarding social conventions; they ignore social and interpersonal obligations. Their troubles with the law are therefore not surprising.

  Marc gets on the wrong side of a lot of people, but gold’s silencing virtues are well-known. Marc always gets peace and quiet from his old toys. Most of the time anyway. No one’s safe from a vengeful clinamen. There are other powerful individuals, much more powerful than Marc, with all due respect, many other powerful individuals who may not have bank accounts but who do have other things that Marc may not understand, since he holds his head high but never holds the floor. The used toys who’ve managed to bounce out of the playroom, with a little help from being thrown, change paths with a thrust of a hip spring, and often think, when they learn that Marc is being unmasked here, scorned in such a place, rejected by the movers and shakers, and just not taken very seriously: I believe in immanent justice.

  The operationalization of psychopathy made way for the creation of a means of measurement, Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (pcl-r) (1980, 1985, 1991). Currently, this means of measuring psychopathy is among the most promising in terms of validity and reliability.

  Tracking the toys he’s broken is something Marc likes to do, from time to time obviously, busy as he is with his new object. He gathers his news very indirectly, and his ear shivers a thousand delicious echoes when someone tinkles the bells with words like disappearance, bankruptcy, cardiac episode, nervous breakdown, utter despondency, alcoholic relapse, existential disaster, or more generally persistent depression. If the toys are in pieces when they’re tossed in the trunk, if they take a long time to be repaired and often have a vast number of stigmata from Marc, it’s because of the Total Treatment. The Total Treatment is a method Marc invented who knows when but that he’s certainly always used. The Total Treatment consists first of all in making a shameless fuss over the toy, not even only while supplies last. Unless it was chosen in the poultry aisle (which can happen since Mr. Twentieth Century’s flesh has to have some enjoyment), the toy has some expertise in creative matters. Quite frequently, the toy is an artist in its own field, or even in general. Marc Le Guigleur likes artists a lot because they’re entertaining, and nothing gives him more pleasure than to make his mark on one of their foreheads. Marc is a collector and seeing Clotilde Mélisse stamped Marc Le GuigleurTM in the flesh, just as one example, sends him over the moon. He thinks it’s less vulgar than having a literary stable. Tongues that have become vicious from gulping down Le Guigleur’s candied almonds with arsenic lies claim that there’s no doubt that, if Marc had his way, his apartment wouldn’t be decorated with any kind of artwork and precious volumes but with strange trophies of the taxidermied heads of their creators.

  Hare developed an evaluation procedure that provides for the measurement of the affective, interpersonal, and behavioral components of psychopathy, in close relation with the disorder’s traditional conceptions such as Cleckley’s (1976) and McCord’s (1956). This procedure is a semi-structured interview wherein the participant is questioned on various aspects of his life. The advantage of the procedure is that it is better at identifying attempts at simulation and manipulation on the part of participants who may be adept at tricking others. This advantage translates into the possibility of confronting the participant with his own answers thanks to the interviewer’s instincts and information found in the participant’s files. This procedure is accompanied by a scale, known as Hare’s Psychopathy Scale. The first version of the scale had twenty-two statements (pcl: Hare 1980). The revised version has twenty statements (pcl-r: Hare 1991) The pcl and the pcl-r show high correlation between them (r = .88) and they measure the same construct (Hare et al. 1990). These versions have proved to be valid and reliable in distinguishing psychopaths from non-psychopaths according to a series of psychological, neuropsychological, and physiological variables.

  Marc knows how to change the world enchanting illusion where everything for the chosen toy is comfort, luxury, flashy delight. Because it comes from an aisle where it never got light, even less attention and of course no listening, the toy suddenly discovers Narcissus fulfillment. The negative ego gains in assurance and swells up a bit. As events occur, Marc rewrites the story unfolding reality thanks to sequins and exquisite notes, he knows how to increase fiction and comfort the toy cut off from all contact outside the playroom. Sly, Marc gets all business decisions pretend-submitted to toy consultation, the inner-circle guinea pig flattered down to its dregs takes a swiped idea for a privilege and for a honey-coated refusals for lessons. In his lab Marc slips into the fur of the Warner Bros.’s mouse, leaving the tipsy advisor to sprout whiskers every night as it rolls out the customary dialogue, Hey, Brain, what do you want to do tonight? / The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world.

  Although the pcl-r meets the statistical criteria for a homogeneous measurement of a unidimensional construct, it is composed of two principal factors (Hare et al. 1990; Harpur et al. 1988, 1989). Factor 1 reflects affective and interpersonal characteristics such as self-centeredness, manipulation, insensitivity, and absence of remorse, considered by a number of researchers to constitute the essence of a psychopathic personality. Factor 2 reflects psychopathic characteristics associated with an impulsive, antisocial, and instable lifestyle.

  The Total Treatment includes oxidation. Come have a drink, he said. It’s an old technique, he got it from des Esseintes. And he took him to a café, where he had them serve him some very strong punch. Marc lives in a land from which no one returns. The child drank, without saying a word. Also a land that few can visit. Now then, des Esseintes said suddenly, would you want to have some fun this evening, I’ll pay. A land made only for its residents and not for tourists. And he led the
child off to Madame Laure, a lady who kept an assortment of flower girls on the third floor of a house on the rue Mosnier, in a series of red rooms decorated with round mirrors and furnished with couches and washbasins. A land of heady profusion that no foreigner could conceive of. Don’t be afraid, you idiot, he said, addressing the child. A land where you wish and you always receive. Go on, make your choice, I’m treating you. Behind each new door, debauchery newness producing key holder dependence. And he gently pushed the boy, who fell back onto a sofa between two women. The shine of gold like the fire of possession or irradiant lust chars eyes that are not accustomed to it. Vanda, the beautiful Jewess, kissed him, giving him sound advice, urging him to obey his father and mother, while at the same time her hands wandered slowly over the child, whose now transfigured face fell backward onto her neck in a swoon. A toy that’s riding the gravy train is eroded by sightlessness and a little blind dog will still lick the hand that substitutes caviar for mature kibble. You’re not even close, that’s not it at all, he said. The truth is I’m simply trying to train up a murderer. A toy that’s riding the gravy train thinks it’s invulnerable and takes its ticket for a pass. Now try and follow my reasoning. A toy that’s riding on the gravy train can’t go back down again. This boy is a virgin and has just reached that age when the sap is beginning to rise; he could have just run after the little girls of his quartier, have amused himself and still remained decent, have, in short, his little share in the monotonous happiness reserved to the poor.