Norman Mailer

[ghost of miles]

Prompted by a throwaway allusion in one of Clem's posts, which reminded me of how I picked up a used paperback copy of ADVERTISEMENTS FOR MYSELF in the late spring of 1988 at Seattle's Left Bank Books (still around?), shortly before heading up to work on an at-sea processor for the summer. It was the first Mailer I'd read, and while uneven, I found it compelling--full of himself, sure, but willing to take risks. Truth be told, I haven't read much NM to compare it to--ARMIES OF THE NIGHT is the only other book that I've finished. I've heard good things from time to time about AN AMERICAN DREAM and WHY ARE WE IN VIETNAM?, and one of these days I might have a crack at some of the first three novels (I love Mailer's take on how JFK told him he liked THE DEER PARK best of all his books; Mailer took it as a calculated ploy, but admired the ploy nonetheless). In some ways, I think I like Mailer's criticism better than anything else he's written... his infamous "Comments on Talent in the Room" essay really nails some of his contemporaries.

What sayeth the muses of Organissimo regarding the literary fate of Mr. Mailer?

Edited October 31, 2006 by ghost of miles

[clifford_thornton]

Upon seeing the exhibition of Mailer ephemera at the Harry Ransom Center (here in Austin - go if you can), I can see that he was both a pretty important figure on levels both literary and cultural in the '60s, and I obviously need to spend more time with his work. Doubtful we have any writers today that fall into a similar range of categories - though Clem might be the expert there.

[connoisseur series500]

I haven't read much Mailer, but what I have read reminds me of the type of work that Capote pioneered. I think Capote was the pioneer, and Mailer extended the format.

Gore Vidal is an infinitely superior stylist, but Mailer grips for sure. Hard to say what his legacy will be. I think Truman Capote goes down as the greater writer of the two.

[Allan Songer]

I haven't read much Mailer, but what I have read reminds me of the type of work that Capote pioneered. I think Capote was the pioneer, and Mailer extended the format.

Gore Vidal is an infinitely superior stylist, but Mailer grips for sure. Hard to say what his legacy will be. I think Truman Capote goes down as the greater writer of the two.

I dunno. Used to think "Why Are We in Viet Nam" was a great novel, but when I reread it last year it left me cold, so I dug back into more and found that "The Deek Park" has held up well as an indictment of the Hollywood "Studio System" as the moment it was about to implode and that 'The Naked and the Dead" was just as powerful as I remembered it--a great WWII novel indeed. Then I picked up "An American Dream" again and WOW!-- a truly mesmerizing tale of evil, greed and vilolence -the best New York novel of the 60's in my opinion.

Mailer is great. Perhaps he lived too long and wrote too much, but there's a LOT of "there" there!

[David Ayers]

I think his best is The Executioner's Song. Some of his better stuff is journalism and stands up very well - e.g. Armies of the Night, The Fight. The sexism and anti-feminism will inevitably damage his current reputation, and I should think that An American Dream will struggle to get on to college reading lists. I haven't read his most recent works, having stopped at Harlot's Ghost, which was intensely interesting but not so interesting that I managed to finish it! (and it was only the first volume - he never finished it either). The White Negro and Advertisments for Myself are also very good of their (sui generis) type. I'd set Mailer over Capote, personally.

[BruceH]

"Norman who?"