On Widmerpool and Ted Cruz

Those of you who are my Twitter friends may have already seen this--and at least some of it is rooted in writing I've done here already--but I thought it was nonetheless worth sharing a Twitter essay I embarked on the other night, prompted by New York Times columnist Russ Douthat's comparison of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz to Anthony Powell's character Kenneth Widmerpool. I'll be curious to hear what you folks think of the linkage.

1 Twitter essay on Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, Widmerpool & Ted Cruz, cued by @DouthatNYT:
https://t.co/DA9h52MGFl

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

2 One of the joys of Dance is that it supplies a gallery of types and situations that you then start spying in the world around you.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

3 Dance's panorama is so diverse, Powell's sense of human motivation so perceptive, that fans regularly talk in terms of his characters.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

4 So spotting Widmerpool in Cruz is in keeping with a long tradition, and is, I think, quite perceptive.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

5 The main similarities are the desire for power, willingness to do whatever it takes to get it, adapt positions decisively as needed.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

6 Even more: the way that both Widmerpool and Cruz seem to repel those who get to know them, on an almost visceral level.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

7 In school days, Powell’s narrator, Nick Jenkins, says “anecdotes relating to [Widmerpoool's] acknowledged oddness were . . . familiar."

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

8 His aspect had “something comfortless and inelegant” in it; "an element in Widmerpool himself had proved indigestible to the community."

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

9 At that point, Nick largely wants to give Widmerpool benefit of the doubt—he's odd, but little known, has "his being in obscurity."

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

10 But vague dislike of Widmerpool ripens into near hatred eventually, as time makes clear his desire for power and lack of human sympathy.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

11 This feels similar to Cruz: hard to pin down, but something about him seems off; prolonged exposure seems to turn it to strong dislike.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

12 There are two big differences, though, that relate to characteristics as central to Widmerpool as his odiousness & love of power.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

13 Widmerpool has a fumbling, awkward quality that Cruz lacks. Cruz projects certainty—oily certainty, but certainty and confidence.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

14 Widmerpool, meanwhile, does things like ask Nick uncomfortably about the protocols for arranging a dirty weekend with his paramour.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

15 His way of asking for help, mind you, is to act as if it's his due—but he does, nonetheless, need it to navigate awkward entanglements.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

16 More important is Widmerpool's love of abasement and humiliation, which manifests itself as early as schooldays.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

17 When Widmerpool is struck by a rotten banana, a classmate says, "an absolutely slavish look came into Widmerpool's face".

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

18 "I don't mind in the least." he says; says his classmate: "It was as if Widmerpool had experienced some secret and awful pleasure."

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

19 This turns up again and again: humiliated, usually physically, Widmerpool looks secretly pleased, with implicit sexual undertones.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

20 Here is how Nick describes seeing Widmerpool get a sugar bowl dumped on his head by a love interest @ a deb ball. pic.twitter.com/wVlPJe4fyz

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

21 In his notebook, Powell considered a further humiliation: "Someone pees on Widmerpool and Fettiplace-Jones, during an army exercise."

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

22 Later, Widmerpool's self-abasement and masochism takes on explicitly sexual aspects; it is a core aspect of his character.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

23 Though we obviously have no way of actually knowing, that's not a characteristic we associate with Cruz . . . although . . .

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

24 . . . there -was- this moment, when Cruz ended up being forced to applaud his own verbal evisceration. pic.twitter.com/JNvCSH7ZoL

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

25 Could that be a hint of a smile there? Well, compare it to this more famous moment of clearly unhappy abasement. pic.twitter.com/Jsl7g9GuiL

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

26 Back to Widmerpool: his desire for abnegation and his awkwardness are what make him not merely monstrous, but also comic.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

27 Though nothing absolves him of his many sins, those aspects of his character, & the role they play in his end, garner him some sympathy.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

28 Widmperool's ultimate inability to be what he wants to be, despite willingness to sacrifice all, gives that fate a tinge of the tragic.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

29 Powell, making art, could in a sense bring Widmerpool full circle. Cruz, flailing, can only keep upping the ante, risky in life -&- art.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

30 No matter Cruz's next steps, be they successes or (one hopes) failures, it's hard to see him becoming an even slightly tragic figure.

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016

31 In terms of delivering satisfaction, art wins out over politics yet again.

{Read Dance! Not for all, but a lifetime book for some.}

— Levi Stahl (@levistahl) March 30, 2016