Give me a reason, Norman

Norman Mailer, literary giant and real-life anti-hero, is dead. I’ll confess I have read none of his books and maybe never will. On one level, I suppose I should—he did win two Pulitzers plus loads of other prizes and was highly influential in the journalism and literary communities. But I always thought of him as a dirty old ego. Married six times and attacked one of those wives with a knife—ok, that gave him a unique perspective on the world to be sure, but not necessarily one that I need to avail myself of. This spring I had entertained picking up some of his work, but then read excerpts in a review of his last novel, The Castle in the Forest (in which a demon gleefully narrates the sexually abusive childhood of Adolf Hitler), and I couldn’t change my mind fast enough. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Why did he write so? The CNN obit quotes him as saying:

Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision. The more a man can achieve, the more he may be certain that the devil will inhabit a part of his creation.

I’ll agree that a hero should expect to face devils, but only an anti-hero will allow them to cohabit.

Hemingway was a brawler, too, but then, I expect as much from a guy whose mother mails him the gun his father used to commit suicide (“Dear Ernie, you’ve always taken after Daddy, so here’s a little memento of him…”)! And to me, Hemingway’s hard-core characters with their bar fights and hunting scars demonstrate the futility of their lifestyles rather than glorify them (though I doubt that’s the message Papa wants me to get). He blustered on as he did because it was authentically who he was and what his circumstances shaped him to be, I think, whereas Mailer blustered on because he wanted to be like Hemingway.

Anyone out there have a different perspective on Mailer and his work? If you want to offer some, I will entertain arguments for why he deserved his status in the writing world and why I should read a particular work of his. Lay it on me.

Of course, if you agree with me, I’d love to hear from you too…

10. November 2007 by Mindy
Categories: News | 4 comments

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