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The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer/4. An American Dream: Difference between revisions
The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer/4. An American Dream (view source)
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer''/4. ''An American Dream''}} | {{DISPLAYTITLE:<span style="font-size:22px;">''The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer''/</span>4. ''An American Dream''}}__NOTOC__{{Template:Structured Vision}} | ||
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{{Template:Structured Vision}} | |||
The eight-volume supra-novel of which ''The Deer Park'' was to have been the first volume was conceived as a comprehensive statement on every facet of American society. ''An American Dream'' touches on most elements of society within one volume, compactly but not simplistically. Although the scope of this novel would seem to imply that Mailer has discarded the careful mechanical limitations of subject matter and setting which we have observed in the earlier novels, certain elements of structure are employed which are reminiscent of the classical unities. The entire action takes place within a twenty-four hour period, in Manhattan, and much pertinent action is related in retrospective flashbacks. The central character and narrator, Stephen Richards Rojack, moves constantly through the city, facing one confrontation after another; and though he is not chained to one spot, the nature of these repeated conflicts as they complicate and clarify the position of the protagonist, are parallel to those experienced in ''Samson Agonistes'' or ''Prometheus Unbound''. Because of the significant Christian overtones in ''An American Dream'', a more apt literary analogue may be found in ''Pilgrim’s Progress''. | The eight-volume supra-novel of which ''The Deer Park'' was to have been the first volume was conceived as a comprehensive statement on every facet of American society. ''An American Dream'' touches on most elements of society within one volume, compactly but not simplistically. Although the scope of this novel would seem to imply that Mailer has discarded the careful mechanical limitations of subject matter and setting which we have observed in the earlier novels, certain elements of structure are employed which are reminiscent of the classical unities. The entire action takes place within a twenty-four hour period, in Manhattan, and much pertinent action is related in retrospective flashbacks. The central character and narrator, Stephen Richards Rojack, moves constantly through the city, facing one confrontation after another; and though he is not chained to one spot, the nature of these repeated conflicts as they complicate and clarify the position of the protagonist, are parallel to those experienced in ''Samson Agonistes'' or ''Prometheus Unbound''. Because of the significant Christian overtones in ''An American Dream'', a more apt literary analogue may be found in ''Pilgrim’s Progress''. | ||
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* {{cite thesis |last=Hux |first=Samuel Holland |date=1965 |title=American Myth and Existential Vision: The Indigenous Existentialism of Mailer, Bellow, Styron and Ellison |type=unpublished doctoral dissertation |chapter= |location=University of Connecticut |ref=harv }} | * {{cite thesis |last=Hux |first=Samuel Holland |date=1965 |title=American Myth and Existential Vision: The Indigenous Existentialism of Mailer, Bellow, Styron and Ellison |type=unpublished doctoral dissertation |chapter= |location=University of Connecticut |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title=Advertisements for Myself |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnum's Sons |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title=Advertisements for Myself |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnum's Sons |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date= | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1965 |title=An American Dream |url= |location=New York |publisher=Dial Press |ref=harv }} Paperback edition published 1966 by Dell Publishing Co., New York. All page references are to the Dell edition. | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1966 |title=Cannibals and Christians |url= |location=New York |publisher=The Dial Press |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1966 |title=Cannibals and Christians |url= |location=New York |publisher=The Dial Press |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1955 |title=The Deer Park |url= |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnum's Sons |ref=harv }} Paperback edition published 1957 by Signet (New American Library of World Literature, New York). All page references are to the Signet edition. | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1955 |title=The Deer Park |url= |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnum's Sons |ref=harv }} Paperback edition published 1957 by Signet (New American Library of World Literature, New York). All page references are to the Signet edition. | ||
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Structured Vision of Norman Mailer, The}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Structured Vision of Norman Mailer, The}} | ||