PROTEAN MAN
17
seized and chained, was to commit himself to a single form, the form
most
his
own, and carry out his function of prophecy. We can say
the same of protean man, but we must keep in mind
his
possibilities
as well as his difficulties.
The protean style of self-process, then, is characterized by an
interminable series of experiments and explorations - some shallow,
some profound - each of which may be readily abandoned in favor
of still new psychological quests. The pattern in many ways resembles
what Erik Erikson has called "identity diffusion" or "identity con–
fusion," and the impaired psychological functioning which those terms
suggest can be very much present. But I would stress that the protean
style is by no means pathological as such, and, in fact, may well be
one of the functional patterns of our day. It extends to all areas of
human experience - to political as well as sexual behavior, to the
holding and promulgating of ideas and to the general organization
of lives.
I would like to suggest a few illustrations of the protean style,
as expressed in America and Europe, drawn both from psycho–
therapeutic work with patients and from observations on various
forms of literature and art.
One patient of mine, a gifted young teacher, spoke of himself
in this way:
I have an extraordinary number of masks I can put on or take off.
The question is: is there, or should there be, one face which should
be authentic? I'm not sure that there is one for me. I can think of
other parallels to this, especially in literature. There are representa–
tions of every kind of crime, every kind of sin. For me, there is not
a single act I cannot imagine myself committing.
He went on to compare himself to an actor on the stage who "per–
forms with a certain kind of polymorphous versatility" - and here
he was referring, slightly mockingly, to Freud's term, "polymorphous
perversity," for diffusely inclusive (also protean) infantile sexuality.
And he asked:
Which -is the real person, so far as an actor is concerned? Is he
more real when performing on the stage - or when he is at home?
I tend to think that for people who have these many, many masks,
there is no home. Is it a futile gesture for the actor to try
to
find
his real face?
