“On Morrison” by Namwali Serpell: Preliminary Dissociative Clues

I have just begun reading this book about Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison by the eminent Harvard English professor, Namwali Serpell (2), whose own novels I have ordered, but not yet received.

My own past posts have suggested that Toni Morrison had the novelist’s normal, creative version of multiple personality (a.k.a.”dissociative identity”) which I call “multiple personality trait,” a creative asset. There are three possible clues to this at the beginning of Serpell’s book.

Three Possible Clues to Morrison’s Creative Trait

1.“The two Pecolas discuss... in a mono-dia-logue...” (1, p. 43).

2. On what psychological basis does Serpell interpret a character’s “shadow self” as “black humor” instead of an alternate personality (1, p. 43)?

3.“In this way it produces the effect of a particular feature of this character’s consciousness: a repeated dissociative forgetfulness, or fugue state, during which she loses her grasp on the names and uses of things" (1, p. 109).

Comment: To read past posts on “Toni Morrison,” search her in this blog.

1. Namwali Serpell: On Morrison. New York, Hogarth, 2026.

2. Wikipedia. “Namwali Serpell.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namwali_Serpell 

“The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts” by Kim Fu: Adult Protagonist Confesses Multiple Personality (a.k.a. Dissociative Identity”), Probably Reflecting Author

“I just wish she [my late mother] was still here, to tell me what to do. I constantly wish I could ask her advice. I feel like a child, in the worst possible way. Like I’m five years old and she abandoned me in a parking lot. Sometimes I’ll be talking to someone, a bank teller or a waiter or a canvasser on the street, and I’ll have this moment of genuine dissociation and confusion, like, why are they talking to me like this? Can’t they see I’m only a child?” (1, p. 25).

Child and infant personalities are found in virtually every MPD patient’s system of alter (alternate) personalities (2, p.107).

Comment: I suspect the author's protagonist has multple personality because the author has the creative version discussed in this blog: "multiple personality trait."

1. Kim Fu. The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts. New York, Tin House, Zando, 2026.

2. Frank W. Putnam. MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press,1989. 

“Graphology Signatures: A Comprehensive Book on Signature Analysis” by Varun L. Rupani: A Possible Application to President Trump

“Cursive with Angular Pattern:" (1, p. 286 ) 

The above signature is NOT President Trump’s, but strikes me as similar to his presidential signature, so the author’s graphological interpretation of its author’s character might approximate his graphological interpretation of Trump. Anyway, Graphology, like Psychiatry, is not an exact science.

Thus, the following interpretation should be taken with many grains of salt. But some readers may find the graphology intriguing.

“A signature characterized by angular formations, particularly sharp-angled strokes connecting letters, unveils significant traits of the writer’s personality and approach to life. Angularity in a signature reflects a writer who is principled, opinionated, and exhibits a militant stance toward their beliefs and decisions. This sharpness in form suggests a mental sharpness in thought and discrimination, showcasing an individual who is analytical, investigative, and strategic. Such a writer approaches life with a keen eye, evaluating situations and people with a critical mindset, rarely giving in to blind faith or unexamined beliefs.

However, this pronounced angularity also hints at a lack of softness or flexibility…Their actions are driven more by principle than by feeling…”(1, pp. 286-287).

Comment: I haven’t seen President Trump’s signature outside of his role as president (for example, in his personal life or as a creative businessman). If his other signatures were significantly different than his presidential signature, there might be multiple sides to his personality, a creative issue that interests me.

1. Varun L. Rupani. Graphology Signatures: A Comprehensive Book on Signature Analysis. Notion Press. India, Singapore, Malaysia, 2024. 

“Darkness Visible, A Memoir of Madness” by novelist William Styron: His "Second Self,” and “Double”

“A phenomenon that a number of people have noted while in deep depression is the sense of being accompanied by a second self—a wraithlike observer who, not sharing the dementia of his double, is able to watch with dispassionate curiosity as his companion struggles against the oncoming disaster [suicide], or decides to embrace it” (1, p. 64).

Comment: Another novelist with multiple personality trait.

1.William Styron. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness. New York, Vintage Books, 1992.

2. Wikipedia. William Styron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Styron 

“Why I am NOT an ATHEIST (The Confessions of a Skeptical Believer)" by Christopher Beha

Comment: Honest self-contradiction suggests multiple personality trait.

1. Christopher Beha. Why I Am Not an Atheist. New York, Penguin Press, 2026.

The New York Times (1) Finally Takes Serious Notice of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder)

Comment: In this blog, I mostly discuss a normal, creative form of the disorder, which I call “multiple personality trait"  (illustrated with novelists). Are there other people in the news with undiagnosed versions?

1. Maggie Jones. What It’s Like to Live With One of Psychiatry’s Most Misunderstood Diagnoses. New York Times’ Magazine Section, February 15, 2026.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/magazine/dissociative-identity-disorder-mental-health.html?searchResultPosition=1 

“The Woman In Me” by Britney Spears: a memoir that does NOT say she has ever been mentally ill

She does say that a relative had once been hospitalized and treated with Lithium (1, p 6.), a treatment for bipolar disorder (a.k.a. manic-depression), and she does acknowledge that she, herself, Britney Spears, had had some erratic behavior. 

Comment: My opinion is that she has a normal, creative version of dissociative identity, what I call “multiple personality trait,” common among novelists.

I base my opinion on the title of her memoir, “The Woman In Me”, since only people with a version of multiple personality have “people” (alternate personalities) inside them, like novelists have characters.

1. Britney Spears. The Woman In Me. New York, Gallery Books, 2023/2025. 

“This Exquisite Loneliness” by Richard Deming: Amnesia and Mirror Symptoms of Multiple Personality (a.k.a. Dissociative Identity Disorder)

“I first began drinking and using drugs when I was about thirteen; at fifteen people started saying I was a nice guy until I got a drink in me; it was sixteen when I began to drink so heavily that I lost hours and whole days to amnesia (2, p. 59) A few years later, someone asked what it was like. I compared it to the sci-fi TV drama from the 1990’s: Quantum Leap. My whole body buzzed and I reappeared in myself, unsure of where or sometimes even who I was”(1, p. xiv).

“Behind this impulse to learn about my own loneliness by way of other people’s experiences is the idea that there are at least two distinct categories of loneliness. There is acute loneliness…The other kind of loneliness is what I’m hoping to drag into the light: the kind of loneliness so deeply felt that it not only is what we might describe as chronic but is somehow the very stuff of a person’s emotional DNA” (1 pp.13-14).

“During the worst period of my active addiction, I was a blackout drinker because I wanted to make myself disappear. The loneliness that I have wrestled with since I was a little kid stood at the core of my substance abuse…Even before the drinking, I had come to feel that I was a ghost haunting my own life. Looking into a mirror (2. p. 62) was like seeing a shadowy figure pass by an empty window at midnight, and the drinking and the drugs were a way to either propel myself through that emptiness or slip inside it, as if stepping into that mirror” (1. p. 135).

Comment: Professor Deming, director of Creative Writing at Yale University, does not raise the possibility of a creative form of multiple personality, the thesis of this blog.

1. Richard Deming. This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts, and The Misunderstood Can Teach Us About Creativity. Viking, 2023.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989. 

“The Devil Wears Scrubs” by Freida McFadden: This bestselling novelist’s first novel has a protagonist with an italicized voice in her head:

To buy a sandwich in the hospital cafeteria, newly minted intern, Dr. Jane McGill, borrows cash from Sexy Surgeon and thinks, “The last thing I want is to owe money to Sexy Surgeon, no matter how great he looks in blue scrubs” (1 p. 33), which is followed by the warning from an italicized voice in her head:

“Jane, stop staring at Sexy Surgeon and eat your lunch. Right now, Jane!” (1, p. 33).

Comment: To repeat, her own thought is followed by the italicized command from a voice in her head. Thus, there are two speakers, her self and the voice in her head, the latter of which which I attribute to a creative, alternate personality, as discussed in many past posts of this blog (search “italicized voices" in this blog).

1. Freida McFadden. The Devil Wears Scrubs. © 2013 by Freida McFadden.

2. Wikipedia. “Freida McFadden.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_McFadden

“Alchemised,” a novel by SenLinYu: Front Flap says protagonist has “inexplicable memory loss”; back flap indicates author is nonbinary; both suggestive of Multiple Personality Disorder (a.k.a. Dissociative Identity Disorder).

Memory gaps are a cardinal symptom of multiple personality (2), and many persons with multiple personality have both male and female alternate personalities (2).

1. SenLinYu. Alchemised. New York, Del Rey, 2025.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD, Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989. 

“The Mind of Your Story” by Lisa Lenard-Cook: Fiction Writers may have a natural, creative form of multiple personality

“Perhaps I’m lucky: I’ve got voices in my head, and when one of these voices begins speaking, it’s all my 120-words-per minute can do to keep up. Plus my characters arrive with names, biographies, even astrological signs. If you prefer not to be a veritable Sybil of fiction, however, you’ll want to create biographies for your characters before you begin” (1, p. 14).

Comment: Sybil was a famous case of multiple personality.

1. Lisa Lenard-Cook. The Mind of Your Story (discover what drives your fiction). Writers’s Digest Books, 2008.

Old News About President Trump’s Lies by Barbara A. Res —Praised by Trump on the back cover! (Added next day! See below!)

1. Barbara A. Res. Tower of Lies: What My 18 Years of Working With Donald Trump Reveals About Him, Los Angeles, CA, Graymalkin Media, 2020, pp. 273.

Back Cover: "Barbara has represented me with the utmost integrity and professionalism. She is well respected throughout the industry." Donald J. Trump

I asked Google “Why does President Trump applaud himself?” Some of Google’s AI Overview was as follows:

—“Prompting the audience…

—“Self-Adulation…

—“Joining in with the audience…

—“Excitement or Stress Relief…

—“Performance and Style…

“Ultimately, the exact motivation remains speculative, as Trump has not provided a definitive explanation for the behavior, which is widely considered unusual for a head of state.”

Comment: What do you think?

Added the next day: President Donald Trump’s signature: Has it changed over the years, which might suggest changes in personality? I have not been able to get a clear and consistent answer.

 "Book of Lives, a Memoir of Sorts” by Margaret Atwood, a Writer's Multiplicity (post 2): 

“There’s a set of emotions familiar to anyone who has been the victim of a con artist. First, anger at the perpetrators. Why have they been so mean? But also anger at oneself: Why have you been so stupid? You ought to have figured it out sooner. Also again: Being conned has been a violation of your trust, and trust is a thing you will never extend so easily again. Possibly, you will never entirely trust anyone. You will be endlessly wondering about hidden motives and secret agendas. You will know that there are likely to be at least two stories: the one you’re being told, and the other one.

You might become a detective. You might become a con artist yourself. Or, a blend of the two: you might become a novelist” (1, pp. 74-75). 

Comment: Also search my old past posts on Margaret Atwood in this blog in which she previously acknowledged the multiplicity of novelists.

1. Margaret Atwood. Book of Lives, a Memoir of Sorts. New York, Doubleday, 2025, 599 pages.

"Book of Lives, a Memoir of Sorts" by Margaret Atwood: a Writer's Multiplicity (post 1)

“I wish I could have a body double in my real life, I thought. It would be so handy. Of course, I do have one. Every writer does. The body double appears as soon as you start writing. How could it be otherwise? There’s the daily you, and then there’s the other person who does the actual writing. They aren’t the same. But in my case, there are more than two. There are lots… 

'The one doing the writing has access to everything in the memory bank. The one doing the living might have some idea of what the writing self has been up to, but less than you’d think… 

“Is writing a trance state”…Not quite, you can break off…Yet the sensation of something taking over can’t be ignored; too many writers have testified to it. Flow state, inspiration, characters seizing the initiative from their authors…these kinds of testimonies are too numerous to be dismissed…” (1, p. xiv-xix).

1. Margaret Atwood. Book of Lives, a Memoir of Sorts. New York, Doubleday, 2025, 599 pages.

“Relentless Pursuit: Our Battle with Jeffrey Epstein” by Bradley J. Edwards: Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump were Rich Neighbors

“Jeffrey Epstein’s house was on a cul-de-sac in the billionaire section of Palm Beach Island, not far from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club (1, p. 25).

“Most of the messages that were confiscated were taken by the butler, who in 2005, was a man named Alfredo Rodriguez. Other messages were taken by Epstein’s various assistants…Someone named Ghislaine Maxwell also took messages and was one of the few people other than Jeffrey who received messages. She was referred to in the messages sometimes as Ghislaine, and other times, by the staff, as Ms. Maxwell. The regular callers included Donald Trump…Epstein’s close friends…left more detailed messages during that time period, which gave better insight into what Epstein was up to” (1. p. 48).

Comment: I have just started reading this book, which was written by a Florida-based victims’ rights attorney. He has not said that Trump was anything other than a rich neighbor and regular caller.

1. Bradley J. Edwards with Brittany Henderson. Relentless Pursuit: Our Battle with Jeffrey Epstein. New York, Gallery Books, 2021.

“The Schopenhauer Cure” a novel by Irvin D. Yalom: The protagonist, an eminent, terminally ill, psychotherapist, reviews the case of a patient he had failed to help twenty years ago: Had the therapist missed the diagnosis of multiple personality?

“PAST HISTORY: Grew up in Connecticut, only child, upper middle class. Father investment banker who committed suicide when Philip was thirteen…Blanket childhood amnesia—remembers little of his first several years and nothing of his father’s funeral…” (1, p. 20).

Comment: The amnesia suggests dissociative identity disorder (a.k.a. multiple personality disorder) in which the current “host” personality cannot remember what a traumatized alternate personality had experienced.

1. Irvin D. Yalom. The Schopenhauer Cure. New York, Harper Perennial, 2005.

2. Wikipedia. “Irvin D. Yalom.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvin_D._Yalom

“The Making of a Monster: Donald J. Trump” by Robert Ragnar: An Astrological Interpretation

“I’m not usually one to engage in astrological prognostication—but according to the star-gazing community, Donald Trump, born June 14, 1946, is the archetypal Gemini. For a man whose supporters claim he’s divinely chosen, such cosmic coincidences can be rhetorically useful.”

“Geminis, ruled by Mercury, are said to possess the gift of communication. They’re also known for their duality—a convenient trait when one needs to maintain two contradictory realities at once. Not to malign every Gemini, but if you have a narcissistic bent toward domination as your preferred playground stratagem, then dualistic thinking makes it all the easier to rationalize deception as a tactic” (1, p. 87).

1. Wikipedia. “Astrology.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology

2. Ragnar, Robert. The Making of a Monster: Vol. 1: Donald J. Trump. ChaosBooks.com, 2025.

 “Hiding in Plain Sight” by Sarah Kendzior (1, 2)

“In the fall of 2015, I predicted that Donald Trump would win the presidential election, and that once installed, he would decimate American democracy…My initial fear that Trump sought to rule like post-Soviet dictators was soon supplanted by the realization he was directly connected to said dictators through his own staff…To see what unchecked corporate power looks like without even the pretense of law, you need look no further than Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Trump views Russia’s brutal hypercapitalism with envy. Putin, who stripped Russia of resources and rights, is rumored to be the wealthiest man in the world…

“For decades, Trump had relied on oligarchs and mobsters from the former USSR for support after Wall Street blacklisted him following his bankruptcies in the 1990’s. The one bank that agreed to take him on—Deutsche Bank—is notorious for facilitating Russian money-laundering…

“Once an autocrat gets into office, it is very hard to get them out…” (1, pp. (3-7).

Comment: I just came upon this book. I have read only what I’ve quoted. It’s not new. We’ll see what happens.

1. Sarah Kendzior. Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. New York, Flatiron Books, 2020/2021. 

2. Wikipedia. Hiding in Plain Sight (Kendzior book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiding_in_Plain_Sight_(Kendzior_book)

“Lying in State: Why Presidents Lie — And Why Trump is Worse” by Eric Alterman

“Chapter 16: Donald Trump’s License to Lie

“In the spring of 2019, the Washington Post fact-checking team reported that President Trump made the 10,000th “false or misleading claim” of his presidency, according to the paper’s own ongoing database. It happened 828 days into his term, and the Post editorial page called it “a whopper.” The editors explained, “The president, whose own administration imposed and then rescinded a systematic policy of wrenching migrant children from their parents, with no protocol in place to reunite them, now poses as a paragon of compassion that ended cruel laws in place before he took office. This is false” (1, p. 241).

“Trump told that bald-faced lie during a live televised interview by phone with his private advisor and public cheerleader, Sean Hannity of Fox News. It was his predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, he insisted, who had begun the child separation policy. His administration was blameless: “We’ve been on a humane basis….[W]e go out and stop the separations.” But as the Post editors pointed out, Trump had indeed instituted the policy, and in “an act of singular cruelty,” had done so without making any meaningful effort to ensure the eventual return of those children to their parents or to see to their mental, physical, and emotional health. Many of the children were held in cages. As for his predecessors alleged responsibility, Trump’s own Justice Department had proudly called his policy “new” when announcing it. With his policy and the lies he told about it, Trump, not atypically, “fused inhumanity with incompetence,” in the Post editors’ words, while hiding behind a facade of apparent cluelessness about his own administration’s actions” (1, pp. 241-242).

1. Eric Alterman. Lying in State: Why Presidents Lie —And Why Trump is Worse. New York, Basic Books, 2020.