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PARTISAN REVIEW
into dissidence. On the other hand, I saw no reason why Miss Caruso
should conceal either her membership in the organization or her
dissidence, nor was I especially disposed to be an accomplice in her
efforts to conceal her beliefs, when I was ready to champion her
right to express them. Besides, what if all this were a blind, and she
was actually engaged in, say, some form of espionage? And behind
all these considerations hovered the spectre of the government, that
ogre of the liberal mind, which, nevertheless, is the only real force
that we can count on to protect both our right to investigate and to
be free of investigation.
My interrogator was getting impatient. Not that he was ruffled;
he simply looked at me with contempt, as he waited for me to light
another cigarette and ,answer his question. But I could not be worried
by his opinion of me, because I no longer knew what I thought of him.
What disturbed me was his very presence in the room-the one thing
I could do nothing about. I was in a state of frantic helplessness, as
though I had been frightened out of a deep sleep.
I cannot say what pulled me out of my trance, but I suppose
it
might be said to be my tongue, for I suddenly found myself talking.
"I do not really know what Miss Caruso's politics are. My guess
is that she is some kind of liberal or radical. No, it would probably
be more accurate to describe her as a crackpot. She seemed to
be
anti-semitic."
As
I said this I realized that at least part of my conflict came
from the fact that I did not have a clear picture of Miss Caruso
in
my own mind. I remembered that it had always struck me as strange
that a woman who paraded herself as a dissident literary personality
should be an anti-semite, since anti-semitism is usually associated with
reaction. And I now felt a little easier, for, perhaps, there was no
longer any ground for my scruples about being drawn into the perse–
cution of some innocent radical. True enough, another element of
confusion had been added to the situation; but, after all, even phi–
losophers, who cannot be said to be unintelligent, often clarify an
old problem by introducing a new confusion.
I was now able to light my cigarette, while Intelligence pursued
the new clue I had thrown out.
"How do you know she was anti-semitic?" he asked.
"Some of the neighbors, who hated her, told me."
