Lipton’s Journal/January 20, 1955/200: Difference between revisions

This is the age of the war of the sensitivities. As a seemingly superficial level it is the battle of ''Dissent'' vs. ''Partisan Review'' vs. ''Commentary'';{{refn|{{NM}} wrote for these three major literary-political journals, all dominated in the postwar period by Jewish intellectuals he knew personally. He was well aware of where their editorial policies did and did not overlap.}} or Carson McCullers{{refn|A Southern gothic writer influenced by [[w:William Faulkner|Faulkner]], [[w:Carson McCullers|McCullers]] (1917-1967) memorably depicted eccentric and isolated characters in her novels, stories and plays. Mailer admired her first novel, ''The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940).}} and Paul Bowles{{refn|A novelist and music composer, [[w:Paul Bowles|Bowles]] (1910-1999) lived most of his adult life in Tangiers, where he hosted several Beat writers, including [[w:Jack Kerouac|Jack Kerouac]], [[w:Allan Ginsberg|Allan Ginsberg]], [[w:William Burroughs|William Burroughs]]. ''The Sheltering Sky'' (1949) is his finest novel.}} and Truman Capote{{refn|Mailer and [[w:Truman Capote|Capote]] (1924-1984) became friendly in the 1960s when they both lived in Brooklyn Heights. Later, they feuded about whether Mailer had sufficiently recognized Capote’s “nonfiction novel,” ''In Cold Blood'' (1966), as the progenitor of ''The Executioner’s Song'' (1979).}} vs. [James] Jones and Early Mailer.{{refn|The literary divide Mailer notes was first sketched out by [[w:Philip Rahv|Philip Rahv]] in a 1939 ''Kenyon Review'' essay, “Paleface vs. Redskin.” [[w:Henry James|Henry James]] was the poster child for the palefaces and [[w:Mark Twain|Mark Twain]] for the redskins. In Mailer’s mind, he moved closer to the palefaces after ''Naked''.}} On a larger scale it is the deep and furious warfare between first Freud, [Alfred] Adler, and [Carl] Jung now between Freudians, Reichians,  Horneyans, etc.{{refn|There is no way to describe here the complex struggles between and among [[w:Sigmund Freud|Sigmund Freud]] (1865-1939), the father of psychoanalysis, and his erstwhile followers, [[w:Alfred Adler|Alfred Adler]] (1870-1937), [[w:Carl Jung|Carl Jung]] (1875-1961), [[w:Wilhelm Reich|Wilhelm Reich]] (1897-1957), and [[w:Karen Horney|Karen Horney]] (1885-1952). Mailer was familiar with their writings.}} On an historical scale it was the ''conflict of sensitivities'' (the deep conviction of each that he alone saw the nature of reality) which set off the individual and collective murders in the contest of Lenin vs. Trotsky; Trotsky vs. Stalin; Stalin vs. Hitler—and now with the Cold War—the war of sensitivities becomes keyed to its full.{{refn|Mailer was also familiar with the writings of [[w:Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Lenin]] (1870-1924), the head of communist Russia from 1917-1924, and his ally, [[w:Leon Trotsky|Leon Trotsky]] (1879-1940), who was assassinated by Lenin’s successor, [[w:Joseph Stalin|Joseph Stalin]] (1878-1953). These three Russians, and [[w:Adolf Hitler|Adolf Hitler]] (1889-1945), are discussed endlessly by the occupants of Mailer’s rooming house cum debating club in ''[[Barbary Shore]]'', and in his final novel, ''[[The Castle in the Forest]]'' (2007), a well-researched fictional recreation of Hitler’s early life. The preponderance of Mailer’s writing is situated beneath the overhang of the ''Cold'' War, most notably his 1991 novel of the C.I.A., ''[[Harlot’s Ghost]]''.}}