Mythic Mailer in An American Dream - Revision history

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2019-04-11T11:21:56Z

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	== Mythic Mailer in ''An American Dream'' ==		{{DISPLAYTITLE:Mythic Mailer in ''An American Dream''}}
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	{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}		{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}

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2019-04-11T11:16:20Z

Grlucas moved page User:Dillbug/sandbox to Mythic Mailer in An American Dream without leaving a redirect: Ready for prime time.

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2019-04-10T17:12:41Z

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	{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}		{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}

	{{notice\|From an essay written for ~~Master's~~ course with [[Mike Lennon]] and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}		{{notice\|From an essay written for a graduate course with [[Mike Lennon]] and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}

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2019-04-10T17:11:34Z

Mythic Mailer in An American Dream

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	{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}		{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}

	{{notice\|From an essay written for Master's ~~class at the direction of~~ [[Mike Lennon]] and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}		{{notice\|From an essay written for Master's course with [[Mike Lennon]] and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}

Dillbug: /* Mythic Mailer in An American Dream */

2019-04-09T16:14:43Z

Mythic Mailer in An American Dream

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	{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}		{{byline\|last=Hampton\|first=Jill}}

	{{notice\|From ~~. . .~~ and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}		{{notice\|From an essay written for Master's class at the direction of [[Mike Lennon]] and reprinted here with the permission of the author.}}

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	However, Orpheus cannot resist one quick look backward to check on her, and as he watches, she disappears, forever this time, back into the void. Rojack tries to muster the courage to walk the parapet again, an act he intuitively knows is essential to Cherry’s well being. But like Orpheus, he will fail and, as a result, lose Cherry forever. Just as the voice in Star Wars comes clearly to Luke, so the voice seems emphatic to Rojack. “The message came clear, ’Walk the parapet,’ it said. ’Walk the parapet or Cherry is dead.’ But I had more fear for myself than for Cherry. I did not want to walk that parapet.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=255}} Rojack succeeds in walking the parapet once, but succumbs to the temptation to verbally attack Kelly and so forgets to walk it the second time. “’The first trip was done for you,” said the voice, “but the second was for Cherry’.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=261}} The true hero, like Mailer’s embattled god, is imperfect and sometimes fails. Campbell describes another mythic hero who sometimes failed: “Parzival fails in the Grail adventure,[sic) he fails because he’s doing what he’s been told to do instead of what his heart tells him to do.”{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=214}} Our fates are intertwined. Cherry dies when Rojack cannot sustain the courage to walk the parapet once more. His personal quest is only partially successful because he ignores his inner voice—the voice in his dream, the voice of his subconscious—and thus he does not complete the ritualistic demands of the myth.		However, Orpheus cannot resist one quick look backward to check on her, and as he watches, she disappears, forever this time, back into the void. Rojack tries to muster the courage to walk the parapet again, an act he intuitively knows is essential to Cherry’s well being. But like Orpheus, he will fail and, as a result, lose Cherry forever. Just as the voice in Star Wars comes clearly to Luke, so the voice seems emphatic to Rojack. “The message came clear, ’Walk the parapet,’ it said. ’Walk the parapet or Cherry is dead.’ But I had more fear for myself than for Cherry. I did not want to walk that parapet.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=255}} Rojack succeeds in walking the parapet once, but succumbs to the temptation to verbally attack Kelly and so forgets to walk it the second time. “’The first trip was done for you,” said the voice, “but the second was for Cherry’.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=261}} The true hero, like Mailer’s embattled god, is imperfect and sometimes fails. Campbell describes another mythic hero who sometimes failed: “Parzival fails in the Grail adventure,[sic) he fails because he’s doing what he’s been told to do instead of what his heart tells him to do.”{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=214}} Our fates are intertwined. Cherry dies when Rojack cannot sustain the courage to walk the parapet once more. His personal quest is only partially successful because he ignores his inner voice—the voice in his dream, the voice of his subconscious—and thus he does not complete the ritualistic demands of the myth.

	Allan J. Wagenheim has noted the similarities between the Orpheus myth and ''An American Dream''. He describes the elevator ride to the top floor of the Waldorf as a recurrent echo of the descent into Hades.{{sfn\|Wagenheim\|1968\|p=61}} The comparison is blatant, despite the ironic reversal of direction. As Rojack pauses on his way to Kelly’s apartment, he is paralyzed by pain. He describes the pain as causing a hallucination that “left me staring at the lobby of the Waldorf. But for a moment I had died and was in the antechamber of Hell.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=206}} More images of hell surface as Rojack journeys in the elevator. He feels “the air burning from the shaft, 11 where “fire had consumed the oxygen,” and “the absolute of evil" was present.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=208}} Later, Rojack’s description of Kelly’s apartment contains obvious mythic allusions to animism, nymphs and serpents. The room held a screen of “a tapestry of women in Elizabethan dress talking to a deer while a squire was in the act of encountering a nude maid who grew out of the trunk of a tree,” a “harpsichord giving off the high patina of a snake,” “ormolu cupids,” and “Golden mermaids.”{sfn\|Mailer\|1964\|p=234}} Mailer is setting us up for a mythic encounter between Rojack and Kelly.		Allan J. Wagenheim has noted the similarities between the Orpheus myth and ''An American Dream''. He describes the elevator ride to the top floor of the Waldorf as a recurrent echo of the descent into Hades.{{sfn\|Wagenheim\|1968\|p=61}} The comparison is blatant, despite the ironic reversal of direction. As Rojack pauses on his way to Kelly’s apartment, he is paralyzed by pain. He describes the pain as causing a hallucination that “left me staring at the lobby of the Waldorf. But for a moment I had died and was in the antechamber of Hell.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=206}} More images of hell surface as Rojack journeys in the elevator. He feels “the air burning from the shaft," where “fire had consumed the oxygen,” and “the absolute of evil" was present.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=208}} Later, Rojack’s description of Kelly’s apartment contains obvious mythic allusions to animism, nymphs and serpents. The room held a screen of “a tapestry of women in Elizabethan dress talking to a deer while a squire was in the act of encountering a nude maid who grew out of the trunk of a tree,” a “harpsichord giving off the high patina of a snake,” “ormolu cupids,” and “Golden mermaids.”{sfn\|Mailer\|1964\|p=234}} Mailer is setting us up for a mythic encounter between Rojack and Kelly.

	In Barney Kelly, Mailer attempts to show us absolute evil which encourages and stimulates the potential evil in those around him. When Kelly greets Rojack who, in the past thirty-some hours has been through that subconscious crucible, he greets him with a hug, like an equal. Rojack describes his embrace as containing “some deep authority of feeling.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=216}} The satanic Kelly recognizes and salutes the newly won strength in Rojack. However, Kelly’s mistress in this hell, Bess, whose name when pronounced sounds suspiciously like the hiss of a snake, warns Rojack that “’Barney’s up to mangling you tonight"’.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=222}} The father’s desires echo those of his dead daughter—a wish to destroy Rojack’s manhood and creativity. When Kelly’s actions draw Rojack away from the parapet, his evil is encouraging the inherent evil—not listening to one’s inner voice, that mystical Godhead—within us. Rojack begins a violent assault on Kelly, but stops himself as he realizes that destroying Kelly, unlike destroying Deborah, is not part of his personal quest.		In Barney Kelly, Mailer attempts to show us absolute evil which encourages and stimulates the potential evil in those around him. When Kelly greets Rojack who, in the past thirty-some hours has been through that subconscious crucible, he greets him with a hug, like an equal. Rojack describes his embrace as containing “some deep authority of feeling.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=216}} The satanic Kelly recognizes and salutes the newly won strength in Rojack. However, Kelly’s mistress in this hell, Bess, whose name when pronounced sounds suspiciously like the hiss of a snake, warns Rojack that “’Barney’s up to mangling you tonight"’.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=222}} The father’s desires echo those of his dead daughter—a wish to destroy Rojack’s manhood and creativity. When Kelly’s actions draw Rojack away from the parapet, his evil is encouraging the inherent evil—not listening to one’s inner voice, that mystical Godhead—within us. Rojack begins a violent assault on Kelly, but stops himself as he realizes that destroying Kelly, unlike destroying Deborah, is not part of his personal quest.

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2019-04-08T23:25:07Z

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	<blockquote>The material of myth is the material of our life, the material of our body, and the material of our environment, and a living, vital mythology deals with these in terms that are appropriate to the nature of knowledge of the time.{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=1}}</blockquote>		<blockquote>The material of myth is the material of our life, the material of our body, and the material of our environment, and a living, vital mythology deals with these in terms that are appropriate to the nature of knowledge of the time.{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=1}}</blockquote>

	''An American Dream'' is a dramatization of 20th-century New York City. This intensely urban conglomerate ~~talks~~ on mythic dimensions as the setting for Mailer’s mythic dialectic: the existential strengths of good and evil. Chase addresses the need for mythic literature to encompass this dialectic: “the creative artist must recapture a certain magical quality, a richness of imagery, a deeper sense of primeval forces, a larger order of aesthetic experience.”{{sfn\|Chase\|1949\|p=110}} In ''An American Dream>'', Mailer develops a modern myth which incorporates all these elements.		''An American Dream'' is a dramatization of 20th-century New York City. This intensely urban conglomerate takes on mythic dimensions as the setting for Mailer’s mythic dialectic: the existential strengths of good and evil. Chase addresses the need for mythic literature to encompass this dialectic: “the creative artist must recapture a certain magical quality, a richness of imagery, a deeper sense of primeval forces, a larger order of aesthetic experience.”{{sfn\|Chase\|1949\|p=110}} In ''An American Dream>'', Mailer develops a modern myth which incorporates all these elements.

	By placing Rojack in New York City, Mailer puts his hero in a well-known urban area. This setting creates an antithetical environment from which Rojack can flee towards the ultimate spatial end, the jungles of South America. Tony Tanner emphasizes Mailer’s incorporation of metaphor in the settings:		By placing Rojack in New York City, Mailer puts his hero in a well-known urban area. This setting creates an antithetical environment from which Rojack can flee towards the ultimate spatial end, the jungles of South America. Tony Tanner emphasizes Mailer’s incorporation of metaphor in the settings:

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2019-04-08T23:01:55Z

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	The most important part of Mailer’s cosmology is the awareness that there is a choice, that the choice has an effect, and that we must choose the best we can.		The most important part of Mailer’s cosmology is the awareness that there is a choice, that the choice has an effect, and that we must choose the best we can.

	Lennon further discusses Mailer’s beliefs about the importance of choice. There is “an extraordinary emphasis on man’s free will, his ability to rough-hew not only ~~bis~~ own destiny but to affect God’s as well.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=147}} The existential nature of the choices tends towards the absurd and can lead to inaction. But, the resultant void would ensure the Devil’s ultimate victory. In ''An American Dream'', Mailer uses the mythic quest to raise awareness and to develop this existential dialectic. “Why write,” Mailer asks in an interview with Lennon, “if you are not going to change consciousness?.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|loc=transcripts, 3}} Lennon summarizes Mailer’s private mythology on choice:		Lennon further discusses Mailer’s beliefs about the importance of choice. There is “an extraordinary emphasis on man’s free will, his ability to rough-hew not only his own destiny but to affect God’s as well.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=147}} The existential nature of the choices tends towards the absurd and can lead to inaction. But, the resultant void would ensure the Devil’s ultimate victory. In ''An American Dream'', Mailer uses the mythic quest to raise awareness and to develop this existential dialectic. “Why write,” Mailer asks in an interview with Lennon, “if you are not going to change consciousness?.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|loc=transcripts, 3}} Lennon summarizes Mailer’s private mythology on choice:

	<blockquote>Choice for Mailer is the forward edge of the quest, existential because it is a foray of unknown strategic value in the war between God and the Devil, yet absolutely necessary because the alternative is entropy.{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=149}}</blockquote>		<blockquote>Choice for Mailer is the forward edge of the quest, existential because it is a foray of unknown strategic value in the war between God and the Devil, yet absolutely necessary because the alternative is entropy.{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=149}}</blockquote>

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Mythic Mailer in An American Dream

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	[[Norman Mailer]]‘s book ''An American Dream'' has been acclaimed by many critics, including the author himself, as possibly his finest novel. On the other hand, many scholars have attacked it for its unrealistic plotline and unbelievable characters. Reviews of the book were decidedly mixed. ''Life'' magazine called it “by conventional standards . . . a grotesquely implausible book, full of horrific occurrences and characters who appear to uniformly insane.”{{sfn\|Aldridge\|1965\|p=12}} On the positive side, Joan Didion claimed “''An American Dream'' is one more instance in which Mailer is going to laugh last, for it is a remarkable book.”{{sfn\|Didion\|1965\|p=39}} Mailer scholar [[J. Michael Lennon]] writes that “The book’s defenders, with few exceptions, [have] tended to see the novel as myth, fantasy, or allegory.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=9}}		[[Norman Mailer]]‘s book ''An American Dream'' has been acclaimed by many critics, including the author himself, as possibly his finest novel. On the other hand, many scholars have attacked it for its unrealistic plotline and unbelievable characters. Reviews of the book were decidedly mixed. ''Life'' magazine called it “by conventional standards . . . a grotesquely implausible book, full of horrific occurrences and characters who appear to be uniformly insane.”{{sfn\|Aldridge\|1965\|p=12}} On the positive side, Joan Didion claimed “''An American Dream'' is one more instance in which Mailer is going to laugh last, for it is a remarkable book.”{{sfn\|Didion\|1965\|p=39}} Mailer scholar [[J. Michael Lennon]] writes that “The book’s defenders, with few exceptions, [have] tended to see the novel as myth, fantasy, or allegory.”{{sfn\|Lennon\|1986\|p=9}}

	In support of interpreting ''An American Dream'' as a myth, I begin by citing Joseph L. Blotner’s description of mythic exegesis of literature:		In support of interpreting ''An American Dream'' as a myth, I begin by citing Joseph L. Blotner’s description of mythic exegesis of literature:

Grlucas: Fixed some issues.

2019-04-08T11:43:27Z

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	However, Orpheus cannot resist one quick look backward to check on her, and as he watches, she disappears, forever this time, back into the void. Rojack tries to muster the courage to walk the parapet again, an act he intuitively knows is essential to Cherry’s well being. But like Orpheus, he will fail and, as a result, lose Cherry forever. Just as the voice in Star Wars comes clearly to Luke, so the voice seems emphatic to Rojack. “The message came clear, ’Walk the parapet,’ it said. ’Walk the parapet or Cherry is dead.’ But I had more fear for myself than for Cherry. I did not want to walk that parapet.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=255}} Rojack succeeds in walking the parapet once, but succumbs to the temptation to verbally attack Kelly and so forgets to walk it the second time. “’The first trip was done for you,” said the voice, “but the second was for Cherry’.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=261}} The true hero, like Mailer’s embattled god, is imperfect and sometimes fails. Campbell describes another mythic hero who sometimes failed: “Parzival fails in the Grail adventure,[sic) he fails because he’s doing what he’s been told to do instead of what his heart tells him to do.”{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=214}} Our fates are intertwined. Cherry dies when Rojack cannot sustain the courage to walk the parapet once more. His personal quest is only partially successful because he ignores his inner voice—the voice in his dream, the voice of his subconscious—and thus he does not complete the ritualistic demands of the myth.		However, Orpheus cannot resist one quick look backward to check on her, and as he watches, she disappears, forever this time, back into the void. Rojack tries to muster the courage to walk the parapet again, an act he intuitively knows is essential to Cherry’s well being. But like Orpheus, he will fail and, as a result, lose Cherry forever. Just as the voice in Star Wars comes clearly to Luke, so the voice seems emphatic to Rojack. “The message came clear, ’Walk the parapet,’ it said. ’Walk the parapet or Cherry is dead.’ But I had more fear for myself than for Cherry. I did not want to walk that parapet.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=255}} Rojack succeeds in walking the parapet once, but succumbs to the temptation to verbally attack Kelly and so forgets to walk it the second time. “’The first trip was done for you,” said the voice, “but the second was for Cherry’.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=261}} The true hero, like Mailer’s embattled god, is imperfect and sometimes fails. Campbell describes another mythic hero who sometimes failed: “Parzival fails in the Grail adventure,[sic) he fails because he’s doing what he’s been told to do instead of what his heart tells him to do.”{{sfn\|Campbell\|1990\|p=214}} Our fates are intertwined. Cherry dies when Rojack cannot sustain the courage to walk the parapet once more. His personal quest is only partially successful because he ignores his inner voice—the voice in his dream, the voice of his subconscious—and thus he does not complete the ritualistic demands of the myth.

	Allan J. Wagenheim has noted the similarities between the Orpheus myth and ''An American Dream''. He describes the elevator ride to the top floor of the Waldorf as a recurrent echo of the descent into Hades.{{sfn\|Wagenheim\|1968\|p=61}} The comparison is blatant, despite the ironic reversal of direction. As Rojack pauses on his way to Kelly’s apartment, he is paralyzed by pain. He describes the pain as causing a hallucination that “left me staring at the lobby of the Waldorf. But for a moment I had died and was in the antechamber of Hell.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=206}} More images of hell surface as Rojack journeys in the elevator. He feels “the air burning from the shaft, 11 where “fire had consumed the oxygen,” and “the absolute of evil" was present.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=208}} Later, Rojack’s description of Kelly’s apartment contains obvious mythic allusions to animism, nymphs and serpents. The room held a screen of “a tapestry of women in Elizabethan dress talking to a deer while a squire was in the act of encountering a nude maid who grew out of the trunk of a tree,” a “harpsichord giving off the high patina of a snake,” “ormolu cupids,” and “Golden mermaids.”{sfn\|Mailer\|1964\|p=234}} Mailer is setting us up for a mythic encounter between Rojack and Kelly.		Allan J. Wagenheim has noted the similarities between the Orpheus myth and ''An American Dream''. He describes the elevator ride to the top floor of the Waldorf as a recurrent echo of the descent into Hades.{{sfn\|Wagenheim\|1968\|p=61}} The comparison is blatant, despite the ironic reversal of direction. As Rojack pauses on his way to Kelly’s apartment, he is paralyzed by pain. He describes the pain as causing a hallucination that “left me staring at the lobby of the Waldorf. But for a moment I had died and was in the antechamber of Hell.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=206}} More images of hell surface as Rojack journeys in the elevator. He feels “the air burning from the shaft," where “fire had consumed the oxygen,” and “the absolute of evil" was present.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=208}} Later, Rojack’s description of Kelly’s apartment contains obvious mythic allusions to animism, nymphs and serpents. The room held a screen of “a tapestry of women in Elizabethan dress talking to a deer while a squire was in the act of encountering a nude maid who grew out of the trunk of a tree,” a “harpsichord giving off the high patina of a snake,” “ormolu cupids,” and “Golden mermaids.”{sfn\|Mailer\|1964\|p=234}} Mailer is setting us up for a mythic encounter between Rojack and Kelly.

	In Barney Kelly, Mailer attempts to show us absolute evil which encourages and stimulates the potential evil in those around him. When Kelly greets Rojack who, in the past thirty-some hours has been through that subconscious crucible, he greets him with a hug, like an equal. Rojack describes his embrace as containing “some deep authority of feeling.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=216}} The satanic Kelly recognizes and salutes the newly won strength in Rojack. However, Kelly’s mistress in this hell, Bess, whose name when pronounced sounds suspiciously like the hiss of a snake, warns Rojack that “’Barney’s up to mangling you tonight"’.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=222}} The father’s desires echo those of his dead daughter—a wish to destroy Rojack’s manhood and creativity. When Kelly’s actions draw Rojack away from the parapet, his evil is encouraging the inherent evil—not listening to one’s inner voice, that mystical Godhead—within us. Rojack begins a violent assault on Kelly, but stops himself as he realizes that destroying Kelly, unlike destroying Deborah, is not part of his personal quest.		In Barney Kelly, Mailer attempts to show us absolute evil which encourages and stimulates the potential evil in those around him. When Kelly greets Rojack who, in the past thirty-some hours has been through that subconscious crucible, he greets him with a hug, like an equal. Rojack describes his embrace as containing “some deep authority of feeling.”{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=216}} The satanic Kelly recognizes and salutes the newly won strength in Rojack. However, Kelly’s mistress in this hell, Bess, whose name when pronounced sounds suspiciously like the hiss of a snake, warns Rojack that “’Barney’s up to mangling you tonight"’.{{sfn\|Mailer\|1987\|p=222}} The father’s desires echo those of his dead daughter—a wish to destroy Rojack’s manhood and creativity. When Kelly’s actions draw Rojack away from the parapet, his evil is encouraging the inherent evil—not listening to one’s inner voice, that mystical Godhead—within us. Rojack begins a violent assault on Kelly, but stops himself as he realizes that destroying Kelly, unlike destroying Deborah, is not part of his personal quest.