“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” by Michael Chabon (post 4): Protagonist has a memory gap, but it causes no problem and seems unrelated to anything

On pages 214-239 (1), the protagonist finally has sex with his male lover, his girlfriend finds out about it, the protagonist says he loves both of them, and the three of them have at least a temporary falling out.

Coincidentally, on page 212, just before all that, is the novel’s first mention of the protagonist’s having a memory gap: “I swallowed half a beer without noticing. Cleveland [a male friend, but not his lover] and I were both dazed, though his daze was a kind of nervous reverie, whereas mine was more akin to a torpor. When I finally remarked the pale bread flavor of the beer in my mouth, I looked around the bar and did not remember having come in” (1).

Nothing further is made of his memory gap for having come in to the bar. He has never had a memory gap previously in this novel, drinking or not drinking. The men are in a “daze,” which is not a typical word for intoxication. The memory gap is treated as a trivial detail, mentioned in passing. Why, then, is this cardinal symptom of multiple personality included?

I have only what the first-person narrator says, and since he does not connect it to anything specific, neither can I. All I can say is that something involving alternate personalities is evidently going on.

You can see from this episode why memory gaps are rarely complained about or spontaneously mentioned by persons who are being evaluated by a psychiatrist or other interviewer. Most memory gaps seem to the person to have occurred for no particular reason, cause no particular problem, and are forgotten about, unless you specifically inquire about them.

1. Michael Chabon. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. New York, Harper Perennial, 1988/2005.