Mythic Mailer in An American Dream: Difference between revisions

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Ironically, most critics who are unhappy with the book mention its lack of realism. In some ways, Mailer uses the mythic aspects of ''An American Dream'' to explore his own concept of reality. Mailer basically thinks in mythic terms; he is a mythic realist {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211}}. When asked about the basis of reality in this particular novel, Mailer replied:

{{quote}}There wasn't a single phenomenon in that book that I consider dream-like or fanciful or fantastical. To me, it was a realistic book, but a realistic book at that place where extraordinary things are happening. I believe the experience of extraordinary people in extraordinary situations is not like our ordinary realistic experience at all. {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211-212}} }}

{{quote}}There wasn't a single phenomenon in that book that I consider dream-like or fanciful or fantastical. To me, it was a realistic book, but a realistic book at that place where extraordinary things are happening. I believe the experience of extraordinary people in extraordinary situations is not like our ordinary realistic experience at all.{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211-212}} }}

To Mailer, intensifying the realistic action deepens the mythic dimension of his work. However, myth does not function easily in realistic genres. Ernst Cassirer writes that myth itself is "incoherent, capricious, irrational" (18). Laura Adams states that "one of the mistakes many critics made in first reviewing it [''An American Dream''] was to take it too literally" (210). Merrill agrees with Adams: "to read ''An American Dream'' as a realistic novel is to misread it altogether" (69). Such critics misunderstand how myth structures the book and deepens its universality.

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 Ironically, most critics who are unhappy with the book mention its lack of realism. In some ways, Mailer uses the mythic aspects of ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' to explore his own concept of reality. Mailer basically thinks in mythic terms; he is a mythic realist {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211}}. When asked about the basis of reality in this particular novel, Mailer replied:
-{{quote}}There wasn't a single phenomenon in that book that I consider dream-like or fanciful or fantastical. To me, it was a realistic book, but a realistic book at that place where extraordinary things are happening. I believe the experience of extraordinary people in extraordinary situations is not like our ordinary realistic experience at all. {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211-212}} }}
+{{quote}}There wasn't a single phenomenon in that book that I consider dream-like or fanciful or fantastical. To me, it was a realistic book, but a realistic book at that place where extraordinary things are happening. I believe the experience of extraordinary people in extraordinary situations is not like our ordinary realistic experience at all.{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211-212}} }}
 To Mailer, intensifying the realistic action deepens the mythic dimension of his work. However, myth does not function easily in realistic genres. Ernst Cassirer writes that myth itself is "incoherent, capricious, irrational" (18). Laura Adams states that "one of the mistakes many critics made in first reviewing it [''<u>An American Dream</u>''] was to take it too literally" (210). Merrill agrees with Adams: "to read ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as a realistic novel is to misread it altogether" (69). Such critics misunderstand how myth structures the book and deepens its universality.