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The Mailer Review/Volume 5, 2011/Contradictory Syntheses: Norman Mailer’s Left Conservatism and the Problematic of “Totalitarianism”: Difference between revisions

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in his highly interesting study:
in his highly interesting study:


<blockquote>[I]t is clear that until Mailer was able to write "The White Negro," totalitarianism was a particularly intimidating and intimate enemy of his art. In addition to representing an external political threat, it presented itself to Mailer as an immediate aesthetic problem that insinuated itself into the very creation of his first three novels.{{sfn|Wenke|1987|p=8|}}(emphasis mine)
<blockquote>[I]t is clear that until Mailer was able to write "The White Negro," totalitarianism was a particularly intimidating and intimate enemy of his art. In addition to representing an external political threat, it presented itself to Mailer as an immediate aesthetic problem that insinuated itself into the very creation of his first three novels.{{sfn|Wenke|1987|p=8}}(emphasis mine)
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


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the matter in even cruder terms, he would not have exposed
the matter in even cruder terms, he would not have exposed
himself to our ridicule for offering us a God who is a fascist.
himself to our ridicule for offering us a God who is a fascist.
{{sfn|Trilling|1987|p=127|}}
{{sfn|Trilling|1987|p=127}}
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


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where this ''political'' exchange with fascism is more than obvious. The following example I take from "The White Negro," where we are told:
where this ''political'' exchange with fascism is more than obvious. The following example I take from "The White Negro," where we are told:


<blockquote>[I]t is possible, since the hipster lives with his hatred, that many of them are the material for an élite of storm troopers ready to follow the first truly magnetic leader whose view of mass murder is phrased in a language which reaches their emotions.{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=355|}}  
<blockquote>[I]t is possible, since the hipster lives with his hatred, that many of them are the material for an élite of storm troopers ready to follow the first truly magnetic leader whose view of mass murder is phrased in a language which reaches their emotions.{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=355}}  
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


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The work of Georges Sorel (1847–1922), a French theorist of anarcho-syndicalism, is important for the proper understanding of our second paradox.
The work of Georges Sorel (1847–1922), a French theorist of anarcho-syndicalism, is important for the proper understanding of our second paradox.
''Réflexions sur la Violence'', his best-known work to which I will refer, was published
''Réflexions sur la Violence'', his best-known work to which I will refer, was published in 1908. For the sake of brevity I would not like to go into the details of what I hold to be Sorel’s own “Left Conservatism.” Instead I have chosen a few quotations, which will give an idea of the basis for the comparison to Mailer. The first comes from an essay on Sorel, written by Isaiah Berlin:
in 1908. For the sake of brevity I would not like to go into the details
of what I hold to be Sorel’s own “Left Conservatism.” Instead I have chosen a few quotations, which will give an idea of the basis for the comparison to
Mailer. The first comes from an essay on Sorel, written by Isaiah Berlin:


<blockquote>Sorel remains, as he was in his lifetime, unclassified; claimed and
<blockquote>Sorel remains, as he was in his lifetime, unclassified; claimed and
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<blockquote>
<blockquote>
have no fixed position. His critics often accused him of pursuing an erratic course.{{sfn|Berlin|1979|p=296, 297|}}  
have no fixed position. His critics often accused him of pursuing an erratic course.{{sfn|Berlin|1979|p=296, 297}}  
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


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<blockquote>
<blockquote>
Georges Sorel is the key to all contemporary political thought.
Georges Sorel is the key to all contemporary political thought.
Sorel is, or was, a highly unstable and equivocal figure. He seems composed of a crowd of warring personalities, sometimes one being in the ascendent [sic], sometimes another, and which in any case he has not been able, or has not cared, to control. (Lewis
Sorel is, or was, a highly unstable and equivocal figure. He seems composed of a crowd of warring personalities, sometimes one being in the ascendent [sic], sometimes another, and which in any case he has not been able, or has not cared, to control. {{sfn|Lewis|1989|p=119}}  
119){{sfn|Berlin|1979|p=296, 297|}}  
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


When I first read the above what instantly came tomymind wasMailer’s
When I first read the above what instantly came to my mind was Mailer’s
description of his own personality in The Armies of the Night,where we read:
description of his own personality in ''The Armies of the Night'', where we read:


<blockquote>
<blockquote>
[T]he architecture of [Mailer’s] personality bore resemblance to
[T]he architecture of [Mailer’s] personality bore resemblance to
some provincial cathedral which warring orders of the church
some provincial cathedral which warring orders of the church might have designed separately over several centuries, the particular cathedral falling into the hands of one architect, then his
might have designed separately over several centuries, the particular
enemy.{{sfn|Mailer|1968|p=28}}  
cathedral falling into the hands of one architect, then his
enemy. (The Armies of the Night 28){{sfn|Berlin|1979|p=296, 297|}}  
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


Clearly, the two descriptions are nearly identical. Sorel’s "warring personalities"
find their near-perfect equivalent in the "warring orders" of the church
of Mailer’s personality. And I hope it is clear how the volatility of both personalities might
be relevant to constructs such as Left Conservatism. Beyond the obvious resemblance suggested by the above extracts, it is possible to argue that Mailer often appears to share with Sorel a marked hostility towards what we perhaps could call social democracy but might be better off defining more carefully as social compromise, social peace and what Mailer has called politics as property.{{efn|Mailer discusses politics as property in Part Two, Chapter Six, of ''Miami and the Siege of Chicago''.}}


In her discussion of "In the Red Light,"{{efn|Mailer’s essay is included in ''Cannibals and Christians.''.}} Jean Radford notes that while
characterizing the support for Goldwater in rather negative terms, “Mailer
is able to admit his own excitement at the thought of Goldwater’s victory.”
{{sfn|Radford|1975|p=69}} She attributes this, in part, to what she calls Mailer’s “own ver-
{{pg|341|342}}
sion of '''politique du pire'"'' (and with this idea of a ''politique du pire'' we enter the heart of our second paradox). "Johnson" she writes "will only blur the reality
of America’s conflicts whereas Goldwater will polarize America and out
of that polarization some hope for the revolution might come." {{sfn|Radford|1975|p=69-70}} What is noteworthy here is the preference for an energetic, violent
opposition, the prospect of which is better embodied, for Mailer, in the Goldwater candidacy. A variation on this motif is the idea from the ''Presidential Papers''{{efn|See the "Prefatory Paper" entitled "Heroes and Leaders."}} that for the physical body as well as the body politic, an “acute” disease is preferable to a “faceless” one. According to Sorel, as he explains
his own notion of ''politique du pire'', the success of a Marxian “catastrophic”
revolution—his ideal—requires that the capitalist system be
functioning properly up to the moment of revolt. In turn, this proper function
demands an openly predatory middle class brutally and unapologetically
exploiting a proletariat, which in response becomes progressively more
militant. Thus, Sorel writes that the revolutionary doctrine
<blockquote>
will evidently be inapplicable if the middle class and the proletariat
do not oppose each other implacably, with all the forces at their disposal; the more ardently capitalist the middle class is, the more the proletariat is full of a warlike spirit and confident of its revolutionary strength, the more certain will be the success of the proletarian movement.{{sfn|Sorel|1941|p=86}}
</blockquote>
One of the more interesting elements in Sorel’s theory is that capitalism’s
progress towards its self-dissolution appears as a sort of "unconscious" historical process:
<blockquote>
It might . . . be said that capitalism plays a part analogous to that
attributed by [Eduard von] Hartmann to the Unconscious in nature,
since it prepares the coming of social reforms which it did not intend to produce.{{sfn|Sorel|1941|p=85}} 
</blockquote>
Now, I don’t think that the “Unconscious” Sorel has in mind here is quite the same as the Freudian unconscious. In fact, I might as well admit that I may be “lost in translation” since Sorel obviously uses a French translation of a
German term which T. E. Hulme, the British translator of ''Reflection'', renders as “Unconscious.” In any case, I think that for the Mailer critic this idea
{{pg|342|343}}
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}


===Citations===
===Citations===
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{{Refbegin}}
{{Refbegin}}


* {{cite journal |last=Berlin |first=Isaiah |title=Georges Sorel|date=1979 |journal=Against the Current  |location=London |publisher=Hogarth Press|pages=296-332 |ref=harv }}
* {{cite journal |last=Berlin |first=Isaiah |title=Georges Sorel|date=1979 |journal=Against the Current  |location=London |publisher=Hogarth Press|pages=296-332. Print. |ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Wyndham |date=1989 |title=The Art of Being Ruled. |location=1926. Santa Rosa |publisher=Black Sparrow Press. Print.|ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1968 |title=The Armies of the Night. |location=New York |publisher=Signet Books. Print.|ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite magazine |last=---------- |date=1969 |title=In the Red Light.|journal=Cannibals and Christians.|location=  London |publisher=Sphere Books
|pages=20-65. Print. |ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite book |last=---------- |date=1969 |title=Miami and the Siege of Chicago. |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin. Print.|ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite book |last=----------|date=1976 |title=The Presidential Papers |location=London |publisher=Panther. Print.|ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite magazine |last=---------- |date=1959 |title=The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster.|location=  Advertisements for Myself. New York |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons
|pages=337-358. Print. |ref=harv }}


* {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Wyndham |date=1989 |title=The Art of Being Ruled. |location=1926. Santa Rosa |publisher=Black Sparrow Press|ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Radford |first=Jean |date=1975 |title=Norman Mailer: A Critical Study |location=London |publisher=Macmillan. Print.|ref=harv }}


* {{cite magazine |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title=The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster.|location= Advertisements for Myself. New York |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons
* {{cite book |last=Sorel |first=Georges |date=1941 |title=Reflections On Violence. |location=Trans. T.E. Hulme. New York |publisher=Peter Smith. Print.|ref=harv }}
|pages=337-358 |ref=harv }}


* {{cite journal |last=Trilling |first=Diana |title=The Moral Radicalism of Norman Mailer.  |journal=Norman Mailer: The Man and His Work  
* {{cite journal |last=Trilling |first=Diana |title=The Moral Radicalism of Norman Mailer.  |journal=Norman Mailer: The Man and His Work  
|location=Ed. Robert Lucid. Boston |publisher=Little, Brown & Co.|date=1971 |pages=108-36 |access-date= |ref=harv }}
|location=Ed. Robert Lucid. Boston |publisher=Little, Brown & Co.|date=1971 |pages=108-36. Print|ref=harv }}


* {{cite book |last=Wenke |first=Joseph |date=1987 |title=Mailer's America |location=Hanover |publisher=University Press of New England|ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Wenke |first=Joseph |date=1987 |title=Mailer's America |location=Hanover |publisher=University Press of New England. Print.|ref=harv }}


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