INTERVIEW: A PASSION FOR ANONYMITY

By WALTER SHAPIRO

As speculation swirled about the identity of the author of Primary Colors, a fictional account of the Clintons' 1992 campaign, contributor Walter Shapiro last week conducted an online interview with the writer. Excerpts:

Anonymous: This is Anonymous and this is weird ... I'm afraid I'm only going to be able to be slightly more forthcoming than O.J. the other night.

Shapiro: O.K. Why are you anonymous?

A: It's a long story. I started off wanting to be pseudonymous, but Harold Evans [the publisher] decided to go all the way. My first reaction was: gimmicky. But I've really grown to love it ... I also wanted the book received on its own merits ... not on the identity of the author, whether I'm someone you've heard of or not ... I do wish I could share the secret with friends.

S: Am I a friend you'd like to share the secret with? I won't tell.

A: I'm sorry, but I'm not going to answer any autobiographical questions ... I'd be happy to talk about the book, the writing process, life as we know it ... You're the first person I've talked to. It's been a lonely process.

S: I feel your pain ... George Stephanopoulos says it is eerie beyond belief to him that his character in the novel [Henry Burton, the narrator] is called "Master of the Universe" by the Stantons [the presidential couple in the novel]. That's just what the Clintons said to him on the morning after the election. Where did you get this?

A: From Bonfire of the Vanities.

S: [Deputy White House chief of staff] Harold Ickes believes no one could have done the Harlem library scene without having been there.

A: A lot of these scenes are standard political events ... that scene was a work of imagination. I'm thrilled people think it closely resembles real life.

S: I wonder: Is this your first work of fiction?

A: That's autobiographical ...

S: The book certainly ends with a strong tone of disillusionment with the Stantons. Is this how you feel about the Clintons?

A: I disagree. In the end, Henry may well have stayed on staff.

S: When you reveal your identity in two months, 20 years, or whatever, will your friends think you have been a "congenital liar"?

A: I hope my identity is never revealed. I'm amazed by how important this has become to me. I hope my friends will understand this.

S: I have one silly question. [To sharply limit the suspects], Mandy Grunwald [former Clinton media consultant and clearly the basis for the character Daisy Green, who has an intense affair with the narrator] insists I ask, Did she ever sleep with you?

A: Autobiographical.

S: I consider your response not an unequivocal denial.

A: Did she really ask that?

S: Yes, indeed. If you stay on the line longer I will happily bring you up to date with the obsessional levels in the Clinton inner circle over who you are.

A: I don't mean to be impolite, but I'd prefer not. It doesn't interest me as much as you might think.

S: Now for a serious question: What are you planning to write next?

A: Next novel will involve some of the peripheral characters in Primary Colors, but will not be a sequel, although I reserve the right to revisit the Stantons later in their lives.

Postscript: Many have cited Mandy Grunwald and sister Lisa Grunwald--a published novelist--as potential co-authors with both the inside knowledge and literary skill to have pulled off Primary Colors. Mandy denies it and has her own suspect: Roger Altman, the former Deputy Treasury Secretary who was an economic adviser to Clinton during the 1992 campaign. Indeed, since leaving the Administration in 1994 after a dispute over his testimony to the Senate Whitewater committee, Altman may have had the time to write a novel. His response: "It's both flattering and preposterous."