Novelist Philip Roth and Actress Claire Bloom: Why Didn’t She Know That Her Ex Had Multiple Personality?

—Please, first, read my prior posts on Philip Roth.

In her memoir, the last time they met, Claire Bloom had hoped that she and Philip Roth could reconcile.

He began by asking her how she had been doing in recent months. She told him, and then asked how he had been doing in recent months. He replied that he couldn’t tell her, because he had “amnesia.”

Bloom—who didn’t know that Roth had multiple personality, or that multiple personality is known for its memory gaps and amnesia—thought that Roth’s claim of amnesia was absurd, dismissive, and insulting. As for Roth, he was disinclined to pursue the issue. Indeed, like most people with multiple personality, he would usually do his best to ignore his memory gaps, because they were nothing new, he couldn't do anything about it, and people might think he was crazy. Better to be thought insulting than crazy.

But why hadn't Bloom ever realized that Roth had multiple personality, since for eighteen years, she had repeatedly observed perplexing changes in his attitude and behavior? There are two main reasons. First, neither she, nor any psychiatrist to whom she had ever spoken, had seriously considered it. Second, alternate personalities usually don’t like to identify themselves or acknowledge their existence. They like to remain in disguise—for example, as being “only” a “literary alter ego”—or, better yet, they like to remain totally incognito. For when people don’t know about them, people can’t interfere with them, or, their worst fear, try to get rid of them.

So when you see recurrent puzzling changes—in a person’s attitude, behavior, knowledge, memory, etc.—you can inquire as to who is doing that, who is involved. For example, suppose Bloom had seen Roth on a subsequent occasion, and in the course of that conversation, she saw that Roth definitely did have memory for everything that he had previously claimed to have amnesia. The relevant question would be, who had had the amnesia, and who is it with whom she is now speaking?

So she would respectfully, gently, but confidently, confront the one who remembers such and such (be specific), saying (the exact words are not critical): “You are clearly not the same person as the one who didn't remember this (be specific as to what this one remembers). You, obviously, do remember this (be specific). Aside from memory, how else do you differ from the other one? What do you do? What are you interested in?”

If, from what this one has been remembering and talking about, you already have an idea as to what this one does and is interested in, ask specifically about that. Because if you get off the subject of what this one does and is interested in, you will likely precipitate a switch to some other personality. (If you sense such a switch, ask, in a friendly, non-threatening way, “Hello, who are you?”)

Often it is best not to immediately ask for something as personal and powerful as their name, until they trust you, and know that you won’t try to get rid of them. As I said, that fear is one reason they like to remain hidden.

Now, if all this reminds you of how you might relate to a child’s imaginary companion, remember that multiple personality begins in childhood. And, incidentally, one of the first questions you should ask any alternate personality that you haven’t met before is, how old they are, which can range from child-aged, to the person’s actual age, to sometimes older.

And so, if this personality—who does remember the things that the other one didn’t—does identify himself, and does provide further information that explains other things that had been puzzling, then Bloom would know that Roth had multiple personality.

Which should not be a big surprise, since, after all, Philip Roth is a great novelist, and great novelists have multiple personality.