Of all of the characters in the book, the strange and interesting ones seem to be the people that DeLillo isn't making up. So I thought I would do a little research on George de Mohrenschildt who seemed to be the most interesting of all of the real characters. As DeLillo describes him he is an international man of intrigue like Lawrence Parmenter but is real. As DeLillo writes George de Mohrenschildt was
A charming and worldly man able to converse fluently in Russian, English, French, Spanish, probably Togo as well, or whatever they spoke in Togoland. Larry liked the man. He’d known him for some years and was aware that George had been debriefed by the Agency after several trips abroad. But even though their business interests had overlapped once or twice, he wasn’t sure quite what George’s racket was.
This leaves this air of mystery around him because we don't actually find out what he really does for a living. DelLillo also writes,
But his marriages didn’t explain his apparent association with Nazis in World War II, his apparent ties to Polish and French intelligence, his expulsion from Mexico, his apparent communist leanings when he was at the University of Texas, his Soviet contacts in Venezuela, the discrepancies in his stated history, his travels in West Africa, Central America, Yugoslavia and Cuba.
While I was reading this I wondered how much was true, so I did some research. I found that there were in fact rumors that he had ties to foreign intelligence and that he admitted he had ties to French intelligence. I also found that he was born in Mozyr, Russia and was part of the Dallas Russian community that had shunned Lee because of his background. I also found that there were, in fact, allegations of Nazi activity on his part. Crazily enough he also did get kicked out of Mexico. According to him it was might have been because General Maxino Camacho of the Mexican Army, was jealous of his relationship with Lilia Larin, a Mexican citizen he met and fell in love with.
I found various other things that match with DeLillo's short summary of what he has done and I must say I was expecting at least some of it to be made up.
I find this article very interesting, since it now skews my opinions on Morenschildt. Just for the record, Togo is a country, not Togoland.
ReplyDeleteThe whole idea of things being stranger than fiction is really interesting. I feel like you couldn't quite make someone like George up. It adds some legitimacy to the whole conspiracy theory. I feel like it would be really interesting to meet him, too, or at least learn way more about him. He's just so weird.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. When I read that list, I just thought there was no way. DeLillo is just making things up to have fun with a weird historical person and to bulk up their international resume. But to hear that these are at least partially accurate is bizarre. It's like spy movie-level travels, but in real life. And he's hanging out with the guy who later shoots the president. (Allegedly)
ReplyDeleteAidan, thank you for your research, I do still find it interesting that even after you researched George de Mohrenschildt, the results still gave you vague answers such as "allegations" and "rumors". With characters like these, it's impossible to assign any affiliations to them other than affiliation to themselves and themselves only. Because it is impossible to effectively understand their motives, characters such as George de Mohrenschildt must be extremely difficult for the CIA to deal with. It will be interesting to see how this relationship will play out in the rest of the book.
ReplyDeleteThese multiple identities, allegiances, etc. almost serve to align de Mohrenschildt and Lee in a way. They are both people with a mysterious background who have ties to both Russia/the USSR and the US, seem to have been involved with conflicting groups and ideologies (Someone with ties to Nazis but also French and Polish intelligence? A young Communist who joins the Marines?) and possibly espionage. Maybe this is why de Mohrenschildt takes such an interest in Lee.
ReplyDeleteWoah, this is amazing! So DeLillo didn't actually make this guy's antics up. There really are real people out there who have these crazy histories. On that note, I wonder if DeLillo bases any of his fictional characters off of real people, or mash up some things that real people did into one person.
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