The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/The Last Night: A Story: Difference between revisions

Line 4:

{{hatnote|

Maybe, it is appropriate to conclude with a piece of prophetic fiction. Assume

Maybe, it is appropriate to conclude with a piece of prophetic fiction. Assume then that the errors in reasoning and/or judgement you have detected for yourself in these pages are equaled only by the numerous errors you failed to detect. That, scientist and friends, is bound to be the measure of the error in the next prophecy.

then that the errors in reasoning and/or judgement you have detected for yourself

in these pages are equaled only by the numerous errors you failed to detect.

That, scientist and friends, is bound to be the measure of the error in the next

prophecy.

The story was written in 1962, therefore was written with the idea of a President

The story was written in 1962, therefore was written with the idea of a President not altogether different from John F. Kennedy. L.B.J., needless to say, is altogether different. Go back, if you would go forward in time.

not altogether different from John F. Kennedy. L.B.J., needless to say, is altogether

different. Go back, if you would go forward in time.

The original prefactory note is also reprinted. It may help to elucidate the style.

Line 34:

Line 28:

maybe in love with him,” is barely acceptable. An actor on contract could probably

manage to register that emotion in a closeup. Whereas,

<blockquote>. . . the little phrase, as soon as it struck his ear, had the power to liberate

<blockquote>. . . the little phrase, as soon as it struck his ear, had the power to liberate in him the room that was needed to contain it; the proportions of Swann’s soul were altered; a margin was left for a form of enjoyment which corresponded no more than his love for Odette to any external object, and yet was not, like his enjoyment of that love, purely individual, but assumed for him an objective reality superior to that of other concrete things,</blockquote>

in him the room that was needed to contain it; the proportions

of Swann’s soul were altered; a margin was left for a form of enjoyment

which corresponded no more than his love for Odette to any

external object, and yet was not, like his enjoyment of that love,

purely individual, but assumed for him an objective reality superior

to that of other concrete things,</blockquote>

would bake the clay of a producer’s face a little closer to stone. A producer is interested

in the meat and bone of a story. His question as he reads a treatment