Sue Grafton Experiences “Kinsey Millhone” and “Kit Blue” as Persons, Not Just Characters

Since Kinsey Millhone and Kit Blue exist only in the writings of Sue Grafton, readers jump to the conclusion that Grafton experiences them as being only invented characters. Grafton certainly knows that they are invented characters, but that doesn’t mean she experiences them as such.

I know this from what Grafton says in her book Kinsey and Me (2013), mentioned in my two previous posts. To understand what Grafton means, you have to assume that she is good at expressing herself with the written word, and then you have to read what she actually wrote.

Grafton says, “Kinsey Millhone entered my life, like an apparition, sometime in 1977.” That means Grafton saw Kinsey as a visual hallucination or vision. “Often I feel she’s peering over my shoulder, whispering, nudging me, making bawdy remarks.” That means Grafton also hears the voice and feels the touch of Kinsey. Of course, Grafton knows this is her imagination and that she invented Kinsey, but Grafton’s imagination is so vivid that she sees, hears, and feels Kinsey, and experiences Kinsey as a thinking being with a mind of her own.

Grafton says, “Kit Blue is simply a younger version of me.” That is not exactly the same as saying that Kit Blue is Grafton when she was younger. If the latter were the case, Grafton could, should, and would have replaced the fictitious name with her own name in the current tell-how-it-really-was publication. There is no reason to retain the Kit Blue name unless Grafton experiences Kit Blue as a person distinct from herself: as an alternate personality of a younger age than Grafton.

Grafton wrote Kinsey and Me to say what she did say, explicitly, in the television interview: “I have several personalities.” Which would make her like Dickens, Twain, etc., except that Grafton has had more best sellers.