Writing / Andy Warhol's Sister / 1989 / Deep & Savage Way / Helen of Santa Zita / Moscow Film World / Guide

Excerpts From a Conversation With a Madman Before we begin, I should say, I don't know what to call you– Call me the madman. It is no more than I deserve. Fine, then. Now, madman, what is it exactly that makes you mad? I have been mad since the day I was born–I could no more be sane, than I could fly. It's interesting you bring up þying–do you believe yourself capable of þight? No. Could you elaborate? I have never, at any time, believed myself to be able to leave the earth under my own power. If I were to say that I believe you to think yourself as a þyer, what would be your reaction? I would think you were mad. I am not mad, though. DeÞne madness, please. Madness asserts itself in your associations with other human beings–a man alone can not be deÞned as a madman. I was not mad before you walked into this room. But I did walk in. Madman, you made reference to being alone. I did. What makes you so alone? After all, there are voices. Voices? I don't understand. Let us pretend that you are the interviewer, and I am the madman. All right. What makes you mad? I am mad because I am with another person. But are you mad, or do you just think you're mad? I think I am mad because I am mad. At what point does your madness become madness in deed, instead of just madness of thought? My madness is purely in the head. I do things which others consider sane, but do them for reasons which are mad. I believe we should end this game. Do you Þnd the game tiresome? I believe we should end the game because it is not a game. It is real. Perhaps you only say that because you are mad. You mentioned voices. I am never alone. I hear voices. Did the voices mention this game? What game are you speaking of? The game in which we change places. I become you, and you become me. I am me. The voices told me that. Only madmen hear voices. I am only a madman in the game, which you wished to end. The voices are not part of the game. I have no further questions. Two Last time– Last time. I thought things didn't go well. I apologize. Do you have any questions? I'd like to begin with your childhood. When I was a child, I could never imagine my future. And now? You are now in what was the future to the child. Now, I can not imagine my past. You can't remember your past? No. I can remember many things. However, I can not imagine a place, a situation, a world, in which such things could happen. And then you went mad? It was a symptom of madness, but not the cause. A symptom? When I became mad, my ability to imagine reality suffered. Let us return to your childhood. Fine. Were you happy? I gave great thought to the question of happiness and also sadness. To what conclusion? I suffered. I enjoyed. Or, I thought about both. As a child, it seemed that thinking about happiness could bring about happiness. Did it? It brought madness. Now we are getting somewhere. On the contrary, we are getting nowhere. And this is your goal? You ask the questions, therefore you provide the goal. My goal is a greater appreciation of the type and quality of your madness. I might argue you out of your goal. You would then, I believe, have a purpose. An anti-purpose, perhaps. A purpose to obviate the purposefulness of another. Is such an attitude another aspect of your madness? Possibly. Perhaps it is the cause. You admit the possibility of a cause? Yes. I have no further questions.