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My notes for the Readercon trickster panel
Kes: I had made up more notes of material than I actually said during the panel, so some of this will be new.
Recommended book: _Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art_ by Lewis Hyde
Recommended story: Buffalo Girls Won't You Come Out Tonight by Ursula Le Guin - A must-read featuring a female coyote
My top 3 tricksters in speculative fiction:
1. Miles Vorkosigan in the series by Lois McMaster-Bujold, especially as Miles is disabled, but unstoppable: Miles was a real inspiration for me, be afraid, be very afraid.
2. "Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpzRHX78TqE f
_Rainbowz End_ by Vernor Vinge - has a hacker character whose avatar is a white rabbit, rabbits also being a traditional trickster in the southwest and Louisiana Cajun culture
Gillian Daniels, the moderator, asked panelists to name their favorite trickster, but I never met a trickster I didn't like, so I really can't just name one, so
Hermes, because he is the god of language and technology, and because he travels between
Coyote, because he can get out of or into anything, plus, as a person with prosthetic eyes, coyote and his detachable body parts has to be in my personal pantheon, especially in the story "Coyote Juggles His Eyes" (lots of versions in text and video form all over the Web)
and Loki, because he is such an instigator, full of scathing language, a shapeshifter, and possesses definitely qualifies as queer
My other favorite tricksters:
Hermes' kids and grankids: Pan, Autolykus, Odysseus, and Iambe (see below)
Puck
pooka, puca - an Irish shapeshifter often appearing as a black horse (_Tamsin_ by Peter Beagle) or a black dog (_War for the Oaks_ by Emma Bull). "Harvey" (1950), Harvey is a six foot tall invisible rabbit that accompanies Jimmy Stewart's character around.
tanuki - Japanese racoon dog, a trickster and prankster associated with kitsune, shows up in manga, often shown as a fat jolly old man with ridiculously large testicles, statues of which are set outside Japanese sake bars
Tanuki at TV Tropes
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tanuki
Tom Robbins wrote a novel, _Villa Incognito_, featuring Tanuki as its protagonist.
The Green Knight in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (proposes a "game" at Christmas, a traditional time for jokes and games, and can walk about with his head underneath his arm--again with the detachable body parts)
The characteristic I love most about tricksters is their ability to be what I call "semiotically promiscuous," that is, their quicksilver mastery of language. Their speech is always full of multiple meanings, be it jokes, riddles, puns, or lies. They literally embody wordplay, that is, language as play, but it is also their use of language which makes them such powerfully subversive characters. They might get out of trouble through lies, or gain something they want through trickery, or they may well just be expert at hurling insults. This last is shown in an extended bout of insults/ridicule which Loki aims at the other gods in
The Lokasenna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4NuHaE_Xs
Tricksters are also known for their obscene language and jokes, as in the story of how the goddess Iambe, daughter of Pan and Echo, granddaughter of Hermes, disguised as an old nurse, made Demeter laugh when Demeter was mourning the loss of Persephone. Iambe supposedly caused Demeter to laugh by the use of either an obscene joke or gesture. Iambe was supposed to have a lame foot, and this is used to describe the meter of iambic poetry, to which Iambe gave her name, and which was traditionally used specifically in satire in Greek poetry.
Iambe or Baubo
http://www.sacredthreads.net/www.sacredthreads.net/iambe_baubo.html
Tricksters are also able to escape and find ways in where they don't belong; they are opportunistic, opportunity comes from the Latin porta = entrance or passage through, associated with doors and entranceways (port, portal, porch).
Michael Dirda mentioned that tricksters are liminal, that is, that they exist at the margins and cross borders: Hermes travels not only as the messenger of the gods, but as a psychopomp, that is, leading the dead to the underworld. Coyote is constantly traveling between the world of the gods and the mortal plane and indeed, stories about Coyote traditionally begin with "Coyote was going."
There is a negative side to this aspect of liminality, though, as tricksters are very often outsiders: the tricky slaves in ancient Greek plays, such as the one you can find in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," are noncitizens attempting to become free; Arlequino and Columbine in commedia dell'arte ar servants; and even Loki is an outsider in Asgard, supposedly a blood brother of Odin but constantly being insulted and mocked by the other gods.
Tricksters also tend to embody vices and inappropriate behavior: obscenity, insults, pride, lust, gluttony, and covetness are their stock in trade. Tricksters are often labeled amoral, and my response is always that this is "so judgey." When you are poor, powerless, and starving, theft and gluttony are survival tactics. When people are constantly treating you as if you are an ignorant inferior, pride and arrogance are modes of maintaining self-identity and self-confidence.
Likewise, coyote and other tricksters are often framed as being cowardly. But tricksters are not heroes or even knights, trained in fighting and armed with weapons. They are themselves outsiders and outlaws: when your world is mined with poisoned bait and steel traps, avoiding dying is perfectly reasonable. I'm a blind person navigating Boston drivers and the MBTA, and Kestrell's rule number 1 is "Don't die."
Tricksters ar also often fluid in their identity, not only physically like Loki, but in the personae they adopt (persona from the Greek = mask). The terms "quicksilver" and "mercurial" can be used to describe their personalities, and both of these words are associated with Mercury/Hermes.
So, when the panel moderator asked for suggestions for contemporary tricksters, I mentioned Orson Welles,
(Listen to the "War of the Worlds" broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
and see "F for Fake"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIVgUjj6RxU )
Tom Waits, and Stephen Colbert. Colbert especially in his persona during "The Colbert Report" was the embodiment the trickster: he was such a great deceiver that many in the conservative right thought he was one of them.
If you want to get into the subversive nature of stories, my favorite bit is Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/gzi3ec/the-colbert-report-grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--1
The writers for The Onion are also tricksters.
I want to add n this last bit not mentioned during the panel:
Where can we find our modern tricksters, and how can they be integrated into contemporary speculative fiction?
Hackers and social engineering
Tricksters often invent gadgets and hacks that allow them to accomplish what they want: Loki invented the fishing net (although he was later caught in his own net), and Hermes invented the lyre, the pipes, fire, and (my theory) barbecue.
The real "software" aspect of hacking, however, is the human aspect, because humans are always the weakest link in any security system.
The classic book on this subject is probably still _The Art of Deception_ by Kevin Mitnick.
Red team
You know those stories where a group of criminals, hackers, and other misfits are hired to break into someone else's secured site in order to expose its weak points (my favorite example is the movie "Sneakers," which has a blind hacker on the team)? That's a red team.
Red teaming is a military exercise in which there is a blue team that operates by traditional tactics and strategies, and a red team, which operates in a non-traditional manner and often relies on deceptive practices. According to Barton Whaley, the point red teaming makes is that a group with fewer members and fewer resources, including less sophisticated technology, can ultimately defeat a larger group with more resources.
In my opinion, the best resource for learning about the use of deception (it's called "deception studies") is anything by Barton Whaley. Whaley was not only an expert in military deception and surprise, but a master magician, and he often combined these two aspects. He wrote my favorite biography on Orson Welles, _The Man Who Was Magic_, which focuses on Welles as a magician, along with writing many books on deception. If you want a breakdown of how to become a master of deception, this is a great resource.
For an overview of his career and scholarship, see this obituary.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pacific-grove-ca/barton-whaley-5624174
Recommended book: _Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art_ by Lewis Hyde
Recommended story: Buffalo Girls Won't You Come Out Tonight by Ursula Le Guin - A must-read featuring a female coyote
My top 3 tricksters in speculative fiction:
1. Miles Vorkosigan in the series by Lois McMaster-Bujold, especially as Miles is disabled, but unstoppable: Miles was a real inspiration for me, be afraid, be very afraid.
2. "Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpzRHX78TqE f
_Rainbowz End_ by Vernor Vinge - has a hacker character whose avatar is a white rabbit, rabbits also being a traditional trickster in the southwest and Louisiana Cajun culture
Gillian Daniels, the moderator, asked panelists to name their favorite trickster, but I never met a trickster I didn't like, so I really can't just name one, so
Hermes, because he is the god of language and technology, and because he travels between
Coyote, because he can get out of or into anything, plus, as a person with prosthetic eyes, coyote and his detachable body parts has to be in my personal pantheon, especially in the story "Coyote Juggles His Eyes" (lots of versions in text and video form all over the Web)
and Loki, because he is such an instigator, full of scathing language, a shapeshifter, and possesses definitely qualifies as queer
My other favorite tricksters:
Hermes' kids and grankids: Pan, Autolykus, Odysseus, and Iambe (see below)
Puck
pooka, puca - an Irish shapeshifter often appearing as a black horse (_Tamsin_ by Peter Beagle) or a black dog (_War for the Oaks_ by Emma Bull). "Harvey" (1950), Harvey is a six foot tall invisible rabbit that accompanies Jimmy Stewart's character around.
tanuki - Japanese racoon dog, a trickster and prankster associated with kitsune, shows up in manga, often shown as a fat jolly old man with ridiculously large testicles, statues of which are set outside Japanese sake bars
Tanuki at TV Tropes
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tanuki
Tom Robbins wrote a novel, _Villa Incognito_, featuring Tanuki as its protagonist.
The Green Knight in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (proposes a "game" at Christmas, a traditional time for jokes and games, and can walk about with his head underneath his arm--again with the detachable body parts)
The characteristic I love most about tricksters is their ability to be what I call "semiotically promiscuous," that is, their quicksilver mastery of language. Their speech is always full of multiple meanings, be it jokes, riddles, puns, or lies. They literally embody wordplay, that is, language as play, but it is also their use of language which makes them such powerfully subversive characters. They might get out of trouble through lies, or gain something they want through trickery, or they may well just be expert at hurling insults. This last is shown in an extended bout of insults/ridicule which Loki aims at the other gods in
The Lokasenna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4NuHaE_Xs
Tricksters are also known for their obscene language and jokes, as in the story of how the goddess Iambe, daughter of Pan and Echo, granddaughter of Hermes, disguised as an old nurse, made Demeter laugh when Demeter was mourning the loss of Persephone. Iambe supposedly caused Demeter to laugh by the use of either an obscene joke or gesture. Iambe was supposed to have a lame foot, and this is used to describe the meter of iambic poetry, to which Iambe gave her name, and which was traditionally used specifically in satire in Greek poetry.
Iambe or Baubo
http://www.sacredthreads.net/www.sacredthreads.net/iambe_baubo.html
Tricksters are also able to escape and find ways in where they don't belong; they are opportunistic, opportunity comes from the Latin porta = entrance or passage through, associated with doors and entranceways (port, portal, porch).
Michael Dirda mentioned that tricksters are liminal, that is, that they exist at the margins and cross borders: Hermes travels not only as the messenger of the gods, but as a psychopomp, that is, leading the dead to the underworld. Coyote is constantly traveling between the world of the gods and the mortal plane and indeed, stories about Coyote traditionally begin with "Coyote was going."
There is a negative side to this aspect of liminality, though, as tricksters are very often outsiders: the tricky slaves in ancient Greek plays, such as the one you can find in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," are noncitizens attempting to become free; Arlequino and Columbine in commedia dell'arte ar servants; and even Loki is an outsider in Asgard, supposedly a blood brother of Odin but constantly being insulted and mocked by the other gods.
Tricksters also tend to embody vices and inappropriate behavior: obscenity, insults, pride, lust, gluttony, and covetness are their stock in trade. Tricksters are often labeled amoral, and my response is always that this is "so judgey." When you are poor, powerless, and starving, theft and gluttony are survival tactics. When people are constantly treating you as if you are an ignorant inferior, pride and arrogance are modes of maintaining self-identity and self-confidence.
Likewise, coyote and other tricksters are often framed as being cowardly. But tricksters are not heroes or even knights, trained in fighting and armed with weapons. They are themselves outsiders and outlaws: when your world is mined with poisoned bait and steel traps, avoiding dying is perfectly reasonable. I'm a blind person navigating Boston drivers and the MBTA, and Kestrell's rule number 1 is "Don't die."
Tricksters ar also often fluid in their identity, not only physically like Loki, but in the personae they adopt (persona from the Greek = mask). The terms "quicksilver" and "mercurial" can be used to describe their personalities, and both of these words are associated with Mercury/Hermes.
So, when the panel moderator asked for suggestions for contemporary tricksters, I mentioned Orson Welles,
(Listen to the "War of the Worlds" broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
and see "F for Fake"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIVgUjj6RxU )
Tom Waits, and Stephen Colbert. Colbert especially in his persona during "The Colbert Report" was the embodiment the trickster: he was such a great deceiver that many in the conservative right thought he was one of them.
If you want to get into the subversive nature of stories, my favorite bit is Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/gzi3ec/the-colbert-report-grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--1
The writers for The Onion are also tricksters.
I want to add n this last bit not mentioned during the panel:
Where can we find our modern tricksters, and how can they be integrated into contemporary speculative fiction?
Hackers and social engineering
Tricksters often invent gadgets and hacks that allow them to accomplish what they want: Loki invented the fishing net (although he was later caught in his own net), and Hermes invented the lyre, the pipes, fire, and (my theory) barbecue.
The real "software" aspect of hacking, however, is the human aspect, because humans are always the weakest link in any security system.
The classic book on this subject is probably still _The Art of Deception_ by Kevin Mitnick.
Red team
You know those stories where a group of criminals, hackers, and other misfits are hired to break into someone else's secured site in order to expose its weak points (my favorite example is the movie "Sneakers," which has a blind hacker on the team)? That's a red team.
Red teaming is a military exercise in which there is a blue team that operates by traditional tactics and strategies, and a red team, which operates in a non-traditional manner and often relies on deceptive practices. According to Barton Whaley, the point red teaming makes is that a group with fewer members and fewer resources, including less sophisticated technology, can ultimately defeat a larger group with more resources.
In my opinion, the best resource for learning about the use of deception (it's called "deception studies") is anything by Barton Whaley. Whaley was not only an expert in military deception and surprise, but a master magician, and he often combined these two aspects. He wrote my favorite biography on Orson Welles, _The Man Who Was Magic_, which focuses on Welles as a magician, along with writing many books on deception. If you want a breakdown of how to become a master of deception, this is a great resource.
For an overview of his career and scholarship, see this obituary.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pacific-grove-ca/barton-whaley-5624174
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TIL
Also, thanks so much for showing me deception studies.