104
PARTISAN REVIEW
that he must have also invcnted the calculator.) Both Gorc and Reagan,
endowed with immense fictive capacities, learned from the media (and
taught the media) how
to
operatc in the theater of endless unfolding
into fictions. We can learn from thcm too.
I began this paper by wondering how we remcmbcr modcrn political
persons in biography. [ concludcd that what wc must rCll1cmbcr about
political leaders is the fictions they created, for thosc werc thcir mcaning;
and
to
remember fictions thc biographer must immcrse himself in fictic–
ity. From different angles, Morris and Turquc led mc
to
thc conclusion
that in our time a new political pcrsonage has becn born, cmerging into
leadership through public charisma gencrated by inner fictions. This
political personality is a new elemcnt in our world, the birth, in Yeats's
phrase, of a "terrible beauty," a new planet in our system.
In
honor of its
discoverers, and in a true scicntific spirit, I hereby nall1e it "the Morris–
Turque Syndrome," and leave it to my audience for furthcr reflections.
Jeffrey Meyers:
Conor Cruise O'Brien, the distinguished Irish intel–
lectual, scholar, and statcsman, is our ncxt spcaker. With rcspcct to
this conference, perhaps his most notable books arc
The Creat
Melody: A Thematic Biogra/Jhy of Edmllnd Blirke, The LOl1g Affair:
Thomas
.I
efferson and the French R.euollltiol1
17 8';-1800 ,
and most
recently,
Memoir: My Life and Themes.
Hc is speaking today on "Revis–
ing Personal and National Themes: Conflucnces and Contradictions."
Conor Cruise O'Brien:
Thc titlc announced for my Iccture scts out some
general themes, which I propose to approach in a pcrsonal and concrete
way. I shall explore these thcmes through a considcration of the difficul–
ties and snares which lie in the way of a person attcmpting an autobiog–
raphy, or memoir, such as thc onc I have published.
In
thc coursc of legal
proccedings witnesscs arc rcquircd to swcar, beforc thcy give evidence,
that they will "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but thc truth."
In
the context of legal procecdings, this undcrtaking can bc reason–
ably given and kept. "The whole truth" which thc witness undertakes
to provide is in fact not limitless.
It
means that he will give truthful
answers
to
a limited numbcr of qucstions believcd
to
rclate to ll1atters
within his personal knowledge. And many possible truthful answers–
"I don't know" or "I don't remcmber"-are ncccssarily included,
although a witness giving such answers is liable
to
bc cross-examined
concerning his declarcd incapacity
to
know or
to
recollect.
Thc writer of an autobiography, however, cannot be reasonably
asked
to
offer "the whole tru th" as to what he remcm bers a bout the
