The Mailer Review/Volume 4, 2010/Authorship and Alienation in Death in the Afternoon and Advertisements for Myself: Difference between revisions
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The structure of Mailer’s ''Advertisements for Myself'' owes nothing to classical literary forms or Western canonical works. Mailer presents his pieces more or less chronologically, asserting his independent authority over his own presentation and performance, his own alienation. Yet its very focus on alienation and concomitant generic hybridity thus seems to owe too much to the shifting terrain of ''Death in the Afternoon'', which is lauded in its opening pages. Whether Mailer borrowed consciously or unconsciously from the formal intricacy of Hemingway’s work, the correspondence of topic, theme, and structural complexity, combined with the early specific mention of ''Death in the Afternoon'', have compelling resonance. | The structure of Mailer’s ''Advertisements for Myself'' owes nothing to classical literary forms or Western canonical works. Mailer presents his pieces more or less chronologically, asserting his independent authority over his own presentation and performance, his own alienation. Yet its very focus on alienation and concomitant generic hybridity thus seems to owe too much to the shifting terrain of ''Death in the Afternoon'', which is lauded in its opening pages. Whether Mailer borrowed consciously or unconsciously from the formal intricacy of Hemingway’s work, the correspondence of topic, theme, and structural complexity, combined with the early specific mention of ''Death in the Afternoon'', have compelling resonance. | ||
At the time of ''Advertisements for Myself'', Mailer was in a very similar career moment to Hemingway at the time of ''Death in the Afternoon''. Mailer was slightly older (36; Hemingway was in his early 30s), and he had published three novels to Hemingway’s two. But, like Hemingway, he had fought to get his most recent novel into print the way he wanted it. Like Hemingway, Mailer had edited that novel at the behest of his publisher. Unlike Hemingway’s ''A | At the time of ''Advertisements for Myself'', Mailer was in a very similar career moment to Hemingway at the time of ''Death in the Afternoon''. Mailer was slightly older (36; Hemingway was in his early 30s), and he had published three novels to Hemingway’s two. But, like Hemingway, he had fought to get his most recent novel into print the way he wanted it. Like Hemingway, Mailer had edited that novel at the behest of his publisher. Unlike Hemingway’s ''A Farewell to Arms'', which Hemingway and critics alike considered successful, | ||
even Mailer found his most recent novel, ''The Deer Park'', less than successful. In some ways, ''The Deer Park’s'' effect on Mailer’s reputation was as adverse as ''Death in the Afternoon’s'' proved for Hemingway’s. For purposes of analysis, then, Advertisements can be considered analogous not to ''Death in the Afternoon'' as a whole, but rather to its Author/Old Lady dialogues. | even Mailer found his most recent novel, ''The Deer Park'', less than successful. In some ways, ''The Deer Park’s'' effect on Mailer’s reputation was as adverse as ''Death in the Afternoon’s'' proved for Hemingway’s. For purposes of analysis, then, Advertisements can be considered analogous not to ''Death in the Afternoon'' as a whole, but rather to its Author/Old Lady dialogues. | ||
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other things to prove, simply tells the reader in his “specialist” table of contents that his “advertisements” comprise the “Biography of a Style”. {{sfn |Mailer|1959|p=15}} Mailer’s author is the author; Mailer acknowledges that his readers can and will decide their own roles for themselves. | other things to prove, simply tells the reader in his “specialist” table of contents that his “advertisements” comprise the “Biography of a Style”. {{sfn |Mailer|1959|p=15}} Mailer’s author is the author; Mailer acknowledges that his readers can and will decide their own roles for themselves. | ||
This acknowledgment, however, renders Mailer’s experience of authorship no less performative nor any less alienating than Hemingway’s. His “First Advertisement for Myself,” a lengthy if perhaps not entirely self conscious response to Hemingway generally and ''Death in the Afternoon'' in particular, establishes alienation as intrinsic to the writer/author distinction on its opening page: | This acknowledgment, however, renders Mailer’s experience of authorship no less performative nor any less alienating than Hemingway’s. His “First Advertisement for Myself,” a lengthy if perhaps not entirely self-conscious response to Hemingway generally and ''Death in the Afternoon'' in particular, establishes alienation as intrinsic to the writer/author distinction on its opening page: | ||
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{{Cite book| author-last= Bruccoli|author-first= Matthew J.|date= 1996|title= The Only Thing That Counts: Ernest Hemingway-Maxwell Perkins Correspondence|location= -New York|publisher= Scribner|ref=harv}} | {{Cite book| author-last= Bruccoli|author-first= Matthew J.|date= 1996|title= The Only Thing That Counts: Ernest Hemingway-Maxwell Perkins Correspondence|location= -New York|publisher= Scribner|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite magazine |last= Castronovo|first= David|date= 2003|title= Norman Mailer as Mid-Century | {{cite magazine |last= Castronovo|first= David|date= 2003|title= Norman Mailer as Mid-Century Advertisments|magazine= The New England Review|pages= 174-194|ref=harv }} | ||
{{cite book |last= Dante|first= Alighieri|date= 1994|title= The Divine Comedy: Inferno| translator-last= Pinsky| translator-first= Robert|location= New York|publisher= Farrar, Straus and Giroux |ref=harv }} | {{cite book |last= Dante|first= Alighieri|date= 1994|title= The Divine Comedy: Inferno| translator-last= Pinsky| translator-first= Robert|location= New York|publisher= Farrar, Straus and Giroux |ref=harv }} | ||