Leila Sand and the myths of Jewishness and WASP-dom
However the competitiveness of Dart's father towards his son and vice versa as both are trapped in the fame of Leila, is further propelled by Leila herself. Through their relationship Leila becomes conscious of two other myths meeting together in their relationship - namely her Jewishness and Dart’s WASPdom, the two being the respective ‘aphrodisiacs’ between them. Leila admits that her New York Jewish childhood had left her with a ‘lifelong fascination for the old WASP ways’. It is not that striking then that the charisma of anything WASPish for Leila acquires some sexual connotations. She was not just fucking a man when she fucked Dart. She was fucking American history, the Mayflower myth, the colonial past. (p.32/II) Besides being a marker for the conservative, wealthy and privileged upper-class, that formerly dominated US society, WASPdom was a sort of code for Leila which she deciphers like that:
I was born rich, eccentric, and spoiled’, it said, ‘and I hope you find this charming, for it’s my only gambit. I ate caviar as a baby, and I still eat caviar and am still a baby. p.36/II
Though Leila is rather appalled by her visit to Dart's family, she is yet seduced and enchanted in the attic in her own mind by the spellbinding WASPdom. The unattainability of anything WASPish for Leila could be ironically juxtaposed to her own unattainability for her mother. Louise’s mother cannot even get her famous daughter on the phone without talking to her assistant, saying ‘Leila Sand’s residence’. Leila’s glorious glamour and fame seem suddenly debased by her mother’s down-to-earth words:
Answer me, Louise - excuse me- Leila, Ms. Sand. You’re such a big shot now. I remember when I used to wipe your ass. 224/XIII
Both by friends and strangers Leila is considered worthy of her fame. It is quite evident by now that the word 'famous' is really favoured throughout the book, coupling its mythmaking effect with strong epithets and phrases like ‘unforgettable talent’, ‘such a gifted painter’, ‘a noted one’. The Grand Venice Ball, which closes the novel, once used to impress Leila because she grew up poor in Washington Heights, particularly at the start of her career when her ‘face became a ticket to ride, her name an open sesame, her paintings the magic combination that released the lock’ 329/XX. The metaphoric cluster of images is quite telling about the way a myth sheds its magic for those who experience it.
The media myth-making reviews
There is still another episode that catches on Jong’s critical attitude towards the media mythmaking reviews. The power of electronic media is absolutely overwhelming. This is how through an irrelevant bar scene the TV myth of Leila could gain a strange life of its own. Leila’s mass culture image of the artist who had ‘that cute boyfriend and photographed him’ really sticks thanks to the show about her on TV. The young girl in the bar looks at Leila ‘avidly’ and produces the perfectly predictable response to the assumed TV message:
Hey, I saw you on TV! Didn’t you do those big pictures of your boyfriend or something? I never forget a face. Hey-that’s really neat. This chick photographed this dude in costumes. Where is he? He was cute./ Gone the way of cute men/ I wish I was an artist.
Isn’t it obvious how TV can create and ruin identities, how close it can draw someone to a myth and the viewers to the supporters of this myth. Although the ridiculous wish of the young lady to be an artist for no good reason but to get hold of cute lovers could be laughed at, it is nonetheless true that a TV image is a powerful generator of myths and mythological heroes today.
Copyright © : Iliyana Nedkova,1996-7
N.Paradoxa : Issue No.6, 1998