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Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing and their artistic striving to make, as Mailer puts it,“a revolution in the consciousness of our time,”is founded in existential notions of creating art and becoming an artist (''Advertisements'' 17). For existentialists, to become an artist, an individual must break through all illusions, see self and world more clearly, get to the core or “root” of life, and thus see life “as it really is” (Hemingway, “Letter to John” 354).The catalyst for this perceptual shift, according to existentialists, is profound emotional experience. Specifically, the existentialists’ study of the intense emotional experience that accompanies facing death, an experience that shakes individuals out of their normal ways of being, seeing, feeling, and thinking, is an essential part of their philosophy of creating art and becoming an artist.
Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing and their artistic striving to make, as Mailer puts it,“a revolution in the consciousness of our time,”is founded in existential notions of creating art and becoming an artist (''Advertisements'' 17). For existentialists, to become an artist, an individual must break through all illusions, see self and world more clearly, get to the core or “root” of life, and thus see life “as it really is” (Hemingway, “Letter to John” 354).The catalyst for this perceptual shift, according to existentialists, is profound emotional experience. Specifically, the existentialists’ study of the intense emotional experience that accompanies facing death, an experience that shakes individuals out of their normal ways of being, seeing, feeling, and thinking, is an essential part of their philosophy of creating art and becoming an artist.
According to the existentialists, it is through the study of death that individuals recognize the importance of seeing life “clearly” and as a “whole” (Hemingway, ''Death'' 2, 9) and come to understand the urgent necessity, as Hemingway puts it, of making “something of his own,” of creating “art” and becoming “artist” (100) or “author” of one’s own life, meaning, structure, content, and commitments (Yalom 8–9). The study of death reveals to individuals, according to existential scholar Charles Guignon, the importance of seeing their lives as a “whole” (Hemingway, Death 278) and the importance of“creating their lives as ‘works of art’”(Guignon xxxv).Significantly, the profound emotional experience that brings individuals to see their lives as a “whole” is bound to the realization that the structure of human nature is a synthesis between the temporal and the eternal—what Hemingway refers to as “the feeling of life and death and mortality and immortality” (Hemingway, ''Death'' 3)—in which the individual moments of one’s life (the temporal or parts) require an overarching unity or meaning (the eternal or whole) to give authentic meaning to one’s life and/or work (63).It is through facing up to one’s own certain death—and the uncertain hour and day of one’s death—that the individual comes to the realization that he/she is responsible for creating his/her life and work as art by expressing the eternal in his/her nature, something Hemingway envisions as the enduring emotional experience of the bullfight, something he strives to convey through his writing and an essential aspect of his existential-oriented philosophy of creating art.This existential focus on the study of death,the realization of the temporal and eternal nature of human existence, and the profound emotional experiences that bring individuals to the realization that they must express the eternal in their nature form the basis of both Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing and their goals as writer-artists.
According to the existentialists, it is through the study of death that individuals recognize the importance of seeing life “clearly” and as a “whole” (Hemingway, ''Death'' 2, 9) and come to understand the urgent necessity, as Hemingway puts it, of making “something of his own,” of creating “art” and becoming “artist” (100) or “author” of one’s own life, meaning, structure, content, and commitments (Yalom 8–9). The study of death reveals to individuals, according to existential scholar Charles Guignon, the importance of seeing their lives as a “whole” (Hemingway, Death 278) and the importance of“creating their lives as ‘works of art’”(Guignon xxxv).Significantly, the profound emotional experience that brings individuals to see their lives as a “whole” is bound to the realization that the structure of human nature is a synthesis between the temporal and the eternal—what Hemingway refers to as “the feeling of life and death and mortality and immortality” (Hemingway, ''Death'' 3)—in which the individual moments of one’s life (the temporal or parts) require an overarching unity or meaning (the eternal or whole) to give authentic meaning to one’s life and/or work (63).It is through facing up to one’s own certain death—and the uncertain hour and day of one’s death—that the individual comes to the realization that he/she is responsible for creating his/her life and work as art by expressing the eternal in his/her nature, something Hemingway envisions as the enduring emotional experience of the bullfight, something he strives to convey through his writing and an essential aspect of his existential-oriented philosophy of creating art. This existential focus on the study of death, the realization of the temporal and eternal nature of human existence, and the profound emotional experiences that bring individuals to the realization that they must express the eternal in their nature form the basis of both Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing and their goals as writer-artists.
HEMINGWAY AND MAILER: THE ART OF WRITING EXISTENTIALLY
 
===='''HEMINGWAY AND MAILER: THE ART OF WRITING EXISTENTIALLY'''====
 
Where Hemingway seeks to express the eternal through his art by capturing
Where Hemingway seeks to express the eternal through his art by capturing
“the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be valid . . . if you stated it purely enough, always”(Death ),Mailer envisions as“the existential state,of the novel writer”in which the writer-artist strives to capture and convey enduring emotion and experience and is constantly faced with the death of his art (“Hazards”).Whether it is the death of the writer’s abilities, the death of his art via his critics, or the actual “existential state” the writer-artist must enter to capture and convey the eternal through his/her art, for Mailer, and as we can see in Death in the Afternoon, for Hemingway, the professional writer-artist, like Hemingway’s matador, must face up to his/her own death—albeit existential death—on a daily basis in order to create art.
“the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be valid . . . if you stated it purely enough, always” (''Death'' 2), Mailer envisions as “the existential state, of the novel writer” in which the writer-artist strives to capture and convey enduring emotion and experience and is constantly faced with the death of his art (“Hazards” 393). Whether it is the death of the writer’s abilities, the death of his art via his critics, or the actual “existential state” the writer-artist must enter to capture and convey the eternal through his/her art, for Mailer, and as we can see in Death in the Afternoon, for Hemingway, the professional writer-artist, like Hemingway’s matador, must face up to his/her own death—albeit existential death—on a daily basis in order to create art.
As both Hemingway and Mailer directly and indirectly tell their readers, their philosophy of writing is an existential one; it is a philosophy of art in which the writer-artist strives to write honestly and show life“as it really is” by presenting the“genuinely disturbing”and“the bad and ugly”in order to express eternal, enduring human emotion and experience through their art (“Letter to John”; qtd.in Foster ; qtd.in Baker ).If they write“purely enough”(Hemingway, Death ), according to Hemingway and Mailer, what they present in their art will be felt by readers—and correlatively their fellow writers and artists—and bring them to the realization that they, too, must take responsibility for what their lives and their work or “art” are adding up to.Importantly,imbedded in both authors’philosophy of writing is a social-mindedness and a focus on individual responsibility not normally attributed to these writers. But both Hemingway and Mailer do present a philosophy of writing and a philosophy of life through which they attempt to teach readers to learn “how to live in it”—in the increasingly modernized, post-war culture that favors conformity over individual expression and thwarts the development of the creative spirit—by presenting an art of living for their times (Hemingway, Sun ).
As both Hemingway and Mailer directly and indirectly tell their readers, their philosophy of writing is an existential one; it is a philosophy of art in which the writer-artist strives to write honestly and show life“as it really is” by presenting the “genuinely disturbing”and “the bad and ugly” in order to express eternal, enduring human emotion and experience through their art (“Letter to John” 354; qtd. in Foster 40; qtd. in Baker 153). If they write “purely enough”(Hemingway, ''Death'' 2), according to Hemingway and Mailer, what they present in their art will be felt by readers—and correlatively their fellow writers and artists—and bring them to the realization that they, too, must take responsibility for what their lives and their work or “art” are adding up to. Importantly, imbedded in both authors’ philosophy of writing is a social-mindedness and a focus on individual responsibility not normally attributed to these writers. But both Hemingway and Mailer do present a philosophy of writing and a philosophy of life through which they attempt to teach readers to learn “how to live in it”—in the increasingly modernized, post-war culture that favors conformity over individual expression and thwarts the development of the creative spirit—by presenting an art of living for their times (Hemingway, ''Sun'' 152).
Considering Hemingway and Mailer’s didactic focus on clarifying Americans’ visions of themselves and their aspirations to make“a revolution in the consciousness” of their times, it is not surprising that both authors were often disappointed when critics accused them of being morbidly obsessed with death and of endorsing violence through their works (qtd. in Glenday ).“Hemingway,” according to Carlos Baker,“was dismayed that many reviewers found Death in the Afternoon marred by a morbid ‘preoccupation with fatality’ and a tendency to ‘he-manish posturing’” (). Mailer was frustrated by critics of An American Dream, who accused him of being “no more than an American pornographer, socially irresponsible, and acutely immoral”(Wenke ).What these critics miss is that it is this death-obsessed view that founds their philosophies of writing and life and their aspirations as existentialist artists. The artist, in Hemingway and Mailer’s view, must strive to convey real, disturbing emotions and experiences in order to shake readers out of their everyday ways of being.Like the existentialists who“rose in revulsion against the corruption of values in capitalist society”and whose “basic conviction was that the evils it perceived were to be ascribed to the very concept and existence of society,” Hemingway and Mailer expose the inadequacy of American capitalism in an increasingly commercial and consumer culture and reject the capitalistic values, identities, and norms prescribed by and reinforced through the increasingly oppressive social and political structures of American culture (Finkelstein –).Therefore,both Hemingway and Mailer’s choice of “disturbing” and “ugly” subjects taken alongside their existential-oriented philosophy of writing and art not only points to these authors’ intense concern for how war, death, and violence have changed the face and heart of their native nation, but reveals a socialmindedness often overlooked in their art (qtd. in Foster ; qtd. in Baker
Considering Hemingway and Mailer’s didactic focus on clarifying Americans’ visions of themselves and their aspirations to make“a revolution in the consciousness” of their times, it is not surprising that both authors were often disappointed when critics accused them of being morbidly obsessed with death and of endorsing violence through their works (qtd. in Glenday 86). “Hemingway,” according to Carlos Baker,“was dismayed that many reviewers found ''Death in the Afternoon'' marred by a morbid ‘preoccupation with fatality’ and a tendency to ‘he-manish posturing’” (243). Mailer was frustrated by critics of ''An American Dream'', who accused him of being “no more than an American pornographer, socially irresponsible, and acutely immoral”(Wenke 98).What these critics miss is that it is this death-obsessed view that founds their philosophies of writing and life and their aspirations as existentialist artists. The artist, in Hemingway and Mailer’s view, must strive to convey real, disturbing emotions and experiences in order to shake readers out of their everyday ways of being.Like the existentialists who“rose in revulsion against the corruption of values in capitalist society”and whose “basic conviction was that the evils it perceived were to be ascribed to the very concept and existence of society,” Hemingway and Mailer expose the inadequacy of American capitalism in an increasingly commercial and consumer culture and reject the capitalistic values, identities, and norms prescribed by and reinforced through the increasingly oppressive social and political structures of American culture (Finkelstein –).Therefore,both Hemingway and Mailer’s choice of “disturbing” and “ugly” subjects taken alongside their existential-oriented philosophy of writing and art not only points to these authors’ intense concern for how war, death, and violence have changed the face and heart of their native nation, but reveals a socialmindedness often overlooked in their art (qtd. in Foster ; qtd. in Baker
).
).
To this day critics still denounce Hemingway and Mailer’s choice of subjects—war, murder, rape, violence, madness, suicide, and senseless brutality—when, in fact, their choice of these subjects is consistent with existential philosophy of art and the concerns of the existential artist.In short, what Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing reveals is that they are intensely concerned with the direction our increasingly conformist and inauthentic American culture is headed: towards the death of the individual, the death of individualism,and the death of the vitality of the creative spirit (Adams ). Their philosophies focus on how to combat the feelings and forces that oppress the individual psyche and thwart individual growth and development. They show and tell readers to break from all illusions of self and world—they try to “clarify” our vision—and show us that we must refuse to be complicit.What they present is an art of writing that is also an art of living for their times, one in which the individual or artist must take responsibility first for what his/her life or art is adding up to, and then for what his/her culture is and is becoming. Nowhere is this more evident than in Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon and Mailer’s An American Dream, works a handful of critics—including Lawrence Broer, John Killinger, Kurt Muller, Michael Reynolds, Laura Adams, Michael Glenday and Richard Poirier—argue represent a shift in each author’s art and reflect the creation of their own,self-developed philosophies of life and death,philosophies that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. These works, taken together, provide a key to the depth of Hemingway’s influence on Mailer’s art and thought.Throughout An American Dream Mailer subtly references and invokes Hemingway, the man, Hemingway’s characters, and espouses what is at the core of the philosophy of life,death and art Hemingway focuses on throughout his manifesto on bullfight, art and writing, Death in the Afternoon.
To this day critics still denounce Hemingway and Mailer’s choice of subjects—war, murder, rape, violence, madness, suicide, and senseless brutality—when, in fact, their choice of these subjects is consistent with existential philosophy of art and the concerns of the existential artist.In short, what Hemingway and Mailer’s philosophy of writing reveals is that they are intensely concerned with the direction our increasingly conformist and inauthentic American culture is headed: towards the death of the individual, the death of individualism,and the death of the vitality of the creative spirit (Adams ). Their philosophies focus on how to combat the feelings and forces that oppress the individual psyche and thwart individual growth and development. They show and tell readers to break from all illusions of self and world—they try to “clarify” our vision—and show us that we must refuse to be complicit.What they present is an art of writing that is also an art of living for their times, one in which the individual or artist must take responsibility first for what his/her life or art is adding up to, and then for what his/her culture is and is becoming. Nowhere is this more evident than in Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon and Mailer’s An American Dream, works a handful of critics—including Lawrence Broer, John Killinger, Kurt Muller, Michael Reynolds, Laura Adams, Michael Glenday and Richard Poirier—argue represent a shift in each author’s art and reflect the creation of their own,self-developed philosophies of life and death,philosophies that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. These works, taken together, provide a key to the depth of Hemingway’s influence on Mailer’s art and thought.Throughout An American Dream Mailer subtly references and invokes Hemingway, the man, Hemingway’s characters, and espouses what is at the core of the philosophy of life,death and art Hemingway focuses on throughout his manifesto on bullfight, art and writing, Death in the Afternoon.
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