Surface affection can coexist with a relish for destroying opponents

Evidence

Proud of your family, you have Hans paint them, three generations clustered around you. You offer open house to wandering scholars. Friendship is one of your talents. You look like a man keen and merciless in argument, one who takes a deep and knowing pleasure in discomfiting his opponents. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1157

Categorization

• XREF: Shows Mantel building a character from counterposed traits (sociable yet merciless)—a technique useful for fiction character work. — connects to: Intense romantic infatuation can carry an undertone of instinctive danger — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 222
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1157

Broader Connections

• Intense romantic infatuation can carry an undertone of instinctive danger #expands (0.75) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 222