The art of seduction: or when to call a rake a rake

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Oct 21, 2001 | by Charlene Sweeney

One of the reasons Greene wrote the book was to act as a "warning" about how easy it is to be seduced. A magazine editor who has lived in Hollywood for many years, he has witnessed first-hand how corrupting seduction can be. His previous tome, 48 Laws Of Power, published appropriately last November during the presidential race, contained a chapter entitled "How to get other people to do the work and take the credit for it".

The flip-side was that readers were supposed to recognise how easy it is to be exploited and therefore take steps to protect themselves against being taken advantage of in the future. What Greene wants us to realise this time around is when we are succumbing to "political seduction" - most obviously, when we are taken in by the soaring rhetoric of election campaigns. Or when advertisers persuade us to buy expensive gadgets we don't actually need; when our bosses play us like a deck of cards. This type of machiavellian scheming, unlike personal one-on-one seduction when people generally want to be seduced, makes Greene deeply uncomfortable.

In his view, the master of this more dangerous form of seduction was John F Kennedy. "All of Kennedy's actions were framed in the conventions of Hollywood," he writes. In looks and in behaviour Kennedy was exaggerated, dramatic - he looked good on TV. Using myth rather than detail, Kennedy reached out to great numbers of people. Yet despite being the most powerful contemporary leader in the world, seduction is a force that President Bush hasn't harnessed, says Greene.

"He doesn't have any charisma. In person, I hear he can be very charming, gracious and almost child-like. But it doesn't work on television." Whereas Tony Blair, he adds, might not be that interesting in person but is convincing on TV. Blair, he thinks, has a touch of the Bill Clinton in him: "They were friends so it's obvious they must be a little alike but since the war, Blair has definitely become more authoritative and attractive."

Bush's lack of allure is, he says, a weakness. "It's important in rallying people, especially during wartime. He doesn't motivate in the way that, say, Franklin Roosevelt or Churchill did."

Still, if Greene is correct, at least Dubya will never have to worry about the inconvenient appearance of a stained, navy Gap dress in his closet.

The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene, Profile, (pounds) 20 lGiovanni Casanova: handsome and gallant with it lCleopatra: can count Caesar and Mark Antony as two of her conquests lGabriele D'Annunzio: bald and ugly but a lothario lMarilyn Monroe: the ultimate pin-up lLord Byron: flouted conventionality - and women loved him for it lJohn F Kennedy: the TV cameras adored him lSalome: beautiful, intelligent - and cruel lMalcolm X: energetic and an amazing orator lElizabeth I: flirted with courtiers but withheld sex lMarlene Dietrich: chic enough to dazzle, weird enough to enthral

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