User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Svengali (Term)

Svengali the term, refers to

• "a person who manipulates or exerts excessive control over another."

History

Svengali as a spider in his web. Illustration by George du Maurier, 1895

"In George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby, a young artist's model named Trilby O'Ferrall falls under the spell of Svengali, a villainous musician and hypnotist. Svengali trains Trilby's voice through hypnosis and transforms her into a singing star, subjugating her completely in the process."

By 1919 "Svengali's maleficent powers of persuasion made such an impression on the reading public that his name was being used generically as a term for any wickedly manipulative individual."

In the 1970s Jerry Brandt who became Jobriath's manager Jerry Brandt was likened to Svengali.

In the in the fourth season of Seinfeld in 1992 Seinfeld referred to Elaine's - played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus- manipulative psychiatrist/boyfriend Dr. Reston - played by Stephen McHattie) - as "svengali." In The Watch, Elaine had begun to date her psychiatrist but soon realized that he has too much control over her. She attempted unsuccessfully to end the relationship and he continually talked her out of breaking up. According to Rebecca House, "In the world of a sit-com, the premise is hysterical. In real life, svengalis ruin people's lives. And anybody those sad (and likely broken) individuals may be connected to...[A] svengali holds you emotional hostage. The effect is similar to Stockholm Syndrome."

In a Rolling Stone's 1993 cover interview with Whitney Houston she rejected the claim that Clive Davis was the Svengali behind her early career. In 1983 Arista Records's head Clive Davis was impressed by Houston and offered her a worldwide recording contract which Houston signed. Later that year, she made her national televised debut alongside Davis on The Merv Griffin Show.

In an article Stephen Berglas described how executive coaching had become more popular since 1998 and that there is a very real danger that many coaches get a Svengali hold over the executives with disastrous results.

In 2000 Daniel Pick wrote Svengali's Web: The Alien Enchanter in Modern Culture in which he described "surrogate passion and psychological foreboding that feature opera singer Jenny Lind, composer Richard Wagner, politician Benjamin Disraeli, novelist Henry James." Works by Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and Henry James were also concerned with the same themes as du Maurier.

In the 2000s the "image of the sports coach has evolved considerably, in many cases into a Svengali-like figure, a psychologically inclined 'guru' who harnesses mysterious mental techniques aimed at improving confidence, removing fear and tension and visualizing successful outcomes."

In court, a Svengali defense is a legal tactic that purports the defendant to be a pawn in the scheme of a greater, and more influential, criminal mastermind. Defense lawyer Judy Clarke used the Svengali defense in March 2015- a legal tactic or approach that casts the accused defendant as as a pawn-like figure who was mainpulated, brainwashed and/or indoctrinated to commit a crime by an influential, Svengali-like mastermind - in the case of the marathon bomber Tsarnaev his lawyer Clark argued it was his Svengali-like older brother; it was Svengali-like father figure who "who schooled the seventeen-year-old Beltway sniper - Lee Malvo - in the ways of murder. The defense lawyer portrays them as "being brainwashed, or being a cipher, or not doing anything independently" - guilty of a crime but not deserving of the death sentence. In 1924 In 1906 Clarence Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb in what has been called The trial of the century. Darrow's lengthy defense - which saved them from execution - included arguments that the youth were mentally ill - having become brainwashed by too much reading of crime stories and Friedrich Nietzsche.

In a March 18, 2015 article in the The Telegraph journalist Henry Samuel described how tapes secretly recorded in 2011 by Patrick Buisson, Nicolas Sarkozy's former eminence grise and advisor- revealed that Buisson "held a Svengali-like sway over the former president but cruelly mocked him behind his back."

In February 2016, Hugh Hewitt claimed that one of the six reasons he would support Donald Trump's candidacy as U.S. President was his daughter Ivanka whom he described as having an "extraordinary intellect" and for having a Svengali-like influence over Trump. Hewitt's use of the term seems contradictory as Hewitt appears to admire Ivanka. The term Svengali - which was made popular by George du Maurier's 1984 novel Trilby through his fictional character Svengali - an evil spider-like rogue who hynotized his untalented protégée - is defined in Wicktionary as a sinister, dominating, behind-the-scenes manipulator who under the guise of coaching or mentoring - exercises complete control over a weaker, spineless person.

Definitions

1. • "a person who manipulates or exerts excessive control over another."