User:NrmMGA5108/sandbox: Difference between revisions

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Then, after his death in 1961, Playboy used Hemingway’s obvious successor— Norman Mailer.

In 1956, Hefner hired ''Playboy’s'' first renowned literary editor, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, an up-and-coming journalist, for the express purpose of elevating the magazine’s literary content. Hefner considered Spectorsky “a real heavyweight” because of his literary talents and East Coast connections. Spectorsky’s ''The Exurbanites'' had recently reached the Best Sellers list, and he had the literary connections needed to “upgrade” ''Playboy’s'' fiction.{{sfn|Fraterrigo|2009|p=32}} Once on the editorial board, Spectorsky began recruiting personal friends to contribute the magazine. He solicited fiction and non-fiction pieces from Ken Purdy, Philip Wylie, Vance Packard, and John Steinbeck. Even if Hefner and Spectorsky did not always agree on lifestyle choices, they were both committed to producing a virile, high-culture publication. Hefner’s vision was to embellish and surround sex with the trappings of high culture. Spectorsky, on the other hand, wanted to “reinvent sophisticated culture itself by bracketing it with heterosexual desire."{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} Combining nude pictorials with good writing and sophisticated advertising allowed ''Playboy'' the opportunity to re-masculinize both reading and consumerism, two activities that were supposedly feminized during the post-war era.

In 1956, Hefner hired ''Playboy’s'' first renowned literary editor, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, an up-and-coming journalist, for the express purpose of elevating the magazine’s literary content. Hefner considered Spectorsky “a real heavyweight” because of his literary talents and East Coast connections. Spectorsky’s ''The Exurbanites'' had recently reached the Best Sellers list, and he had the literary connections needed to “upgrade” ''Playboy’s'' fiction.{{sfn|Fraterrigo|2009|p=32}} Once on the editorial board, Spectorsky began recruiting personal friends to contribute the magazine. He solicited fiction and non-fiction pieces from Ken Purdy, Philip Wylie, Vance Packard, and John Steinbeck. Even if Hefner and Spectorsky did not always agree on lifestyle choices, they were both committed to producing a virile, high-culture publication. Hefner’s vision was to embellish and surround sex with the trappings of high culture. Spectorsky, on the other hand, wanted to “reinvent sophisticated culture itself by bracketing it with heterosexual desire.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} Combining nude pictorials with good writing and sophisticated advertising allowed ''Playboy'' the opportunity to re-masculinize both reading and consumerism, two activities that were supposedly feminized during the post-war era.

Spectorsky viewed ''Playboy'' as his platform to “redefine male readers as ‘whole ~~men’” (Gilbert 207)~~.{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} He wrote:

Spectorsky viewed ''Playboy'' as his platform to “redefine male readers as ‘whole men’.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} He wrote:

<blockquote> Each issue is a tacit statement to [readers] that they are responsive to fine fiction and to pretty girls; to Lucullan dining and drinking and to serious articles and interviews that bear directly or philosophically on today’s serious issues; to sports cars and classical music, jazz, fashion, the struggle for civil rights, bachelor high-life, and the world of business and finance. (qtd. in Gilbert 207){{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} </blockquote>

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It was important to Spectorsky to devise clear guidelines to ensure that the literature of ''Playboy'' would celebrate a particular kind of masculinity. These {{pg|200|201}}

literary guidelines suggest that Hefner and Spectorsky believed that literary selections were a crucial component of the ethos of ''Playboy.'' Spectorsky instructed his fiction staff to discard any “castration-defeat-doom stories” in favor of “Hemingway heroes . . . who deal with the world instead of cringing and having high-tone ~~failures” (Gilbert 208)~~.{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=208}} Spectorsky also based much of his criteria for quality fiction on Hemingway’s writing style—clear, economical prose, machismo or womanizing, rich imagery, and simple, albeit vigorous, word choice. Using Hemingway, the author and the man, to advertise the magazine’s commitment to masculinity, Spectorsky helped resurrect the masculine, intellectual man during the 1950s gender debates.

literary guidelines suggest that Hefner and Spectorsky believed that literary selections were a crucial component of the ethos of ''Playboy.'' Spectorsky instructed his fiction staff to discard any “castration-defeat-doom stories” in favor of “Hemingway heroes . . . who deal with the world instead of cringing and having high-tone failures.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=208}} Spectorsky also based much of his criteria for quality fiction on Hemingway’s writing style—clear, economical prose, machismo or womanizing, rich imagery, and simple, albeit vigorous, word choice. Using Hemingway, the author and the man, to advertise the magazine’s commitment to masculinity, Spectorsky helped resurrect the masculine, intellectual man during the 1950s gender debates.

In order to promote ''Playboy’s'' macho literary persona and maintain a heavy dose of Hemingway, Spectorsky commissioned Norman Mailer for various publications. For instance, the January 1963 issue contains a special portfolio on “man’s politics and sport, his business and pleasure, his competition and credo” that couples Hemingway’s “A Man’s Credo” with Mailer’s debate on right-wing American politics. And, in the laudatory introduction to the ''Playboy'' Interview with Norman Mailer, the editors claim that “Mailer is as colorful and publicized as any writer since Ernest ~~Hemingway”(69, Jan. 1968)~~.{{sfn|Hefner|1968|p=84}} Featuring Hemingway first, followed by Mailer, ''Playboy'' editors could assure readers that elite literature would not negate readers’ masculinity. Spectorsky could easily use Mailer in this capacity because of the multiple themes and concerns connecting these literary giants, including their iconoclastic status.

In order to promote ''Playboy’s'' macho literary persona and maintain a heavy dose of Hemingway, Spectorsky commissioned Norman Mailer for various publications. For instance, the January 1963 issue contains a special portfolio on “man’s politics and sport, his business and pleasure, his competition and credo” that couples Hemingway’s “A Man’s Credo” with Mailer’s debate on right-wing American politics. And, in the laudatory introduction to the ''Playboy'' Interview with Norman Mailer, the editors claim that “Mailer is as colorful and publicized as any writer since Ernest Hemingway.”{{sfn|Hefner|1968|p=84}} Featuring Hemingway first, followed by Mailer, ''Playboy'' editors could assure readers that elite literature would not negate readers’ masculinity. Spectorsky could easily use Mailer in this capacity because of the multiple themes and concerns connecting these literary giants, including their iconoclastic status.

As articles in the 2010 issue of the ''Norman Mailer Review'' illustrate, the connections between Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer range from bullfights to multiple wives. Erik Nakjavani argues that Hemingway’s influence on Mailer was so acute that the younger author “came to ''embody'' Hemingway’s influence, identifying with him” and developing affinities with him (166, emphasis original).{{sfn|Nakjavani|2010|p=161–191}} Scholars such as J. Michael Lennon, James Meredith, Mark Cirino, and Barry Leeds prove that themes of boxing, war, violence, and firearms unite two of the most famous twentieth-century century writers. Constructing female characters as objects also links them. In “Norman, Papa, and the Autoerotic Construction of Woman,” Mimi Gladstein chronicles how both authors became “favorite whipping boys for feminist critics” for creating a “certain kind of fantasy woman, a projection of autoerotic impulses, by which they allow themselves, imaginatively, privileges that they did not have in life” (288-289).{{sfn|Gladstein|2010|p=288-289}} And, in “Hemingway, Mailer, {{pg|201|202}}

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Then, after his death in 1961, Playboy used Hemingway’s obvious successor— Norman Mailer.
-In 1956, Hefner hired ''Playboy’s'' first renowned literary editor, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, an up-and-coming journalist, for the express purpose of elevating the magazine’s literary content. Hefner considered Spectorsky “a real heavyweight” because of his literary talents and East Coast connections. Spectorsky’s ''The Exurbanites'' had recently reached the Best Sellers list, and he had the literary connections needed to “upgrade” ''Playboy’s'' fiction.{{sfn|Fraterrigo|2009|p=32}} Once on the editorial board, Spectorsky began recruiting personal friends to contribute the magazine. He solicited fiction and non-fiction pieces from Ken Purdy, Philip Wylie, Vance Packard, and John Steinbeck. Even if Hefner and Spectorsky did not always agree on lifestyle choices, they were both committed to producing a virile, high-culture publication. Hefner’s vision was to embellish and surround sex with the trappings of high culture. Spectorsky, on the other hand, wanted to “reinvent sophisticated culture itself by bracketing it with heterosexual desire."{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} Combining nude pictorials with good writing and sophisticated advertising allowed ''Playboy'' the opportunity to re-masculinize both reading and consumerism, two activities that were supposedly feminized during the post-war era.
+In 1956, Hefner hired ''Playboy’s'' first renowned literary editor, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, an up-and-coming journalist, for the express purpose of elevating the magazine’s literary content. Hefner considered Spectorsky “a real heavyweight” because of his literary talents and East Coast connections. Spectorsky’s ''The Exurbanites'' had recently reached the Best Sellers list, and he had the literary connections needed to “upgrade” ''Playboy’s'' fiction.{{sfn|Fraterrigo|2009|p=32}} Once on the editorial board, Spectorsky began recruiting personal friends to contribute the magazine. He solicited fiction and non-fiction pieces from Ken Purdy, Philip Wylie, Vance Packard, and John Steinbeck. Even if Hefner and Spectorsky did not always agree on lifestyle choices, they were both committed to producing a virile, high-culture publication. Hefner’s vision was to embellish and surround sex with the trappings of high culture. Spectorsky, on the other hand, wanted to “reinvent sophisticated culture itself by bracketing it with heterosexual desire.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} Combining nude pictorials with good writing and sophisticated advertising allowed ''Playboy'' the opportunity to re-masculinize both reading and consumerism, two activities that were supposedly feminized during the post-war era.
-Spectorsky viewed ''Playboy'' as his platform to “redefine male readers as ‘whole men’” (Gilbert 207).{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} He wrote:
+Spectorsky viewed ''Playboy'' as his platform to “redefine male readers as ‘whole men’.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} He wrote:
 <blockquote> Each issue is a tacit statement to [readers] that they are responsive to fine fiction and to pretty girls; to Lucullan dining and drinking and to serious articles and interviews that bear directly or philosophically on today’s serious issues; to sports cars and classical music, jazz, fashion, the struggle for civil rights, bachelor high-life, and the world of business and finance. (qtd. in Gilbert 207){{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=207}} </blockquote>
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 It was important to Spectorsky to devise clear guidelines to ensure that the literature of ''Playboy'' would celebrate a particular kind of masculinity. These {{pg|200|201}}
-literary guidelines suggest that Hefner and Spectorsky believed that literary selections were a crucial component of the ethos of ''Playboy.'' Spectorsky instructed his fiction staff to discard any “castration-defeat-doom stories” in favor of “Hemingway heroes . . . who deal with the world instead of cringing and having high-tone failures” (Gilbert 208).{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=208}} Spectorsky also based much of his criteria for quality fiction on Hemingway’s writing style—clear, economical prose, machismo or womanizing, rich imagery, and simple, albeit vigorous, word choice. Using Hemingway, the author and the man, to advertise the magazine’s commitment to masculinity, Spectorsky helped resurrect the masculine, intellectual man during the 1950s gender debates.
+literary guidelines suggest that Hefner and Spectorsky believed that literary selections were a crucial component of the ethos of ''Playboy.'' Spectorsky instructed his fiction staff to discard any “castration-defeat-doom stories” in favor of “Hemingway heroes . . . who deal with the world instead of cringing and having high-tone failures.”{{sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=208}} Spectorsky also based much of his criteria for quality fiction on Hemingway’s writing style—clear, economical prose, machismo or womanizing, rich imagery, and simple, albeit vigorous, word choice. Using Hemingway, the author and the man, to advertise the magazine’s commitment to masculinity, Spectorsky helped resurrect the masculine, intellectual man during the 1950s gender debates.
-In order to promote ''Playboy’s'' macho literary persona and maintain a heavy dose of Hemingway, Spectorsky commissioned Norman Mailer for various publications. For instance, the January 1963 issue contains a special portfolio on “man’s politics and sport, his business and pleasure, his competition and credo” that couples Hemingway’s “A Man’s Credo” with Mailer’s debate on right-wing American politics. And, in the laudatory introduction to the ''Playboy'' Interview with Norman Mailer, the editors claim that “Mailer is as colorful and publicized as any writer since Ernest Hemingway”(69, Jan. 1968).{{sfn|Hefner|1968|p=84}} Featuring Hemingway first, followed by Mailer, ''Playboy'' editors could assure readers that elite literature would not negate readers’ masculinity. Spectorsky could easily use Mailer in this capacity because of the multiple themes and concerns connecting these literary giants, including their iconoclastic status.
+In order to promote ''Playboy’s'' macho literary persona and maintain a heavy dose of Hemingway, Spectorsky commissioned Norman Mailer for various publications. For instance, the January 1963 issue contains a special portfolio on “man’s politics and sport, his business and pleasure, his competition and credo” that couples Hemingway’s “A Man’s Credo” with Mailer’s debate on right-wing American politics. And, in the laudatory introduction to the ''Playboy'' Interview with Norman Mailer, the editors claim that “Mailer is as colorful and publicized as any writer since Ernest Hemingway.”{{sfn|Hefner|1968|p=84}} Featuring Hemingway first, followed by Mailer, ''Playboy'' editors could assure readers that elite literature would not negate readers’ masculinity. Spectorsky could easily use Mailer in this capacity because of the multiple themes and concerns connecting these literary giants, including their iconoclastic status.
 As articles in the 2010 issue of the ''Norman Mailer Review'' illustrate, the connections between Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer range from bullfights to multiple wives. Erik Nakjavani argues that Hemingway’s influence on Mailer was so acute that the younger author “came to ''embody'' Hemingway’s influence, identifying with him” and developing affinities with him (166, emphasis original).{{sfn|Nakjavani|2010|p=161–191}} Scholars such as J. Michael Lennon, James Meredith, Mark Cirino, and Barry Leeds prove that themes of boxing, war, violence, and firearms unite two of the most famous twentieth-century century writers. Constructing female characters as objects also links them. In “Norman, Papa, and the Autoerotic Construction of Woman,” Mimi Gladstein chronicles how both authors became “favorite whipping boys for feminist critics” for creating a “certain kind of fantasy woman, a projection of autoerotic impulses, by which they allow themselves, imaginatively, privileges that they did not have in life” (288-289).{{sfn|Gladstein|2010|p=288-289}} And, in “Hemingway, Mailer, {{pg|201|202}}