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Existentialism, Violent Liberation, and Racialized Masculinities: Norman Mailer’s “The White Negro” and An American Dream: Difference between revisions
Existentialism, Violent Liberation, and Racialized Masculinities: Norman Mailer’s “The White Negro” and An American Dream (view source)
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In ''[[Advertisements for Myself]]'', his 1959 collection of excerpts and articles, Norman Mailer pauses to meditate on Ernest Hemingway’s influence on his own work. While he admits to a deep-seated admiration for his literary predecessor and acknowledges that Hemingway “did a lot of things which very few of us could do,” Mailer also believes that the author “pretended to be ignorant of the notion that it is not enough to feel like a man, one must try to think like a man as well.”{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=20}} While it is tempting to take issue with this assessment of Hemingway, the statement’s significance to a study of Mailer’s work lies not necessarily in its accuracy but in its purpose, for in expressing this concern, Mailer implies that he, by contrast, will ''not'' pretend to ignore this point. And Mailer does, in fact, spend much of his literary career exploring what it means to “think like a man.” While Mailer’s representation of masculinity is controversial in that its reliance on various modes of violence — from interpersonal to misogynistic to political — does threaten to reify many of the oppressive social structures that Mailer and his protagonists find so restrictive, his body of work nevertheless offers significant insight into prevalent issues of conflicted gendered identity in American culture. Here, I aim to illuminate the oft-overlooked complexity of some of Mailer’s most infamous representations of masculinity. More specifically, I examine not only the ways that Mailer’s representations of masculinity paradoxically reinforce the oppressions he seeks to overturn through his protagonists’ violent rebellions, but also those moments when Mailer himself interrogates these violences and their roles in shaping gender identity. | In ''[[Advertisements for Myself]]'', his 1959 collection of excerpts and articles, Norman Mailer pauses to meditate on Ernest Hemingway’s influence on his own work. While he admits to a deep-seated admiration for his literary predecessor and acknowledges that Hemingway “did a lot of things which very few of us could do,” Mailer also believes that the author “pretended to be ignorant of the notion that it is not enough to feel like a man, one must try to think like a man as well.”{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=20}} While it is tempting to take issue with this assessment of Hemingway, the statement’s significance to a study of Mailer’s work lies not necessarily in its accuracy but in its purpose, for in expressing this concern, Mailer implies that he, by contrast, will ''not'' pretend to ignore this point. And Mailer does, in fact, spend much of his literary career exploring what it means to “think like a man.” While Mailer’s representation of masculinity is controversial in that its reliance on various modes of violence — from interpersonal to misogynistic to political — does threaten to reify many of the oppressive social structures that Mailer and his protagonists find so restrictive, his body of work nevertheless offers significant insight into prevalent issues of conflicted gendered identity in American culture. Here, I aim to illuminate the oft-overlooked complexity of some of Mailer’s most infamous representations of masculinity. More specifically, I examine not only the ways that Mailer’s representations of masculinity paradoxically reinforce the oppressions he seeks to overturn through his protagonists’ violent rebellions, but also those moments when Mailer himself interrogates these violences and their roles in shaping gender identity. | ||
Mailer’s meditations on masculinity revolve around an existential anxiety in the midst of what he continually refers to as a cancerous or decaying society. His existential theory also draws on the tenets of French existentialism; in fact, I would suggest that though he is often maligned as a reactionary, anti-feminist writer, Mailer adopts a project quite similar to that of Simone de Beauvoir. His early work indicates that the major similarities between his definition of existentialism and that of both Beauvoir and Sartre lie within two particular tenets: his view of individual liberation as a step towards transcendence, and the importance of the role of an Other in that project.{{efn|While Mailer did not hesitate to call himself an existential author, and repeatedly referred to a wide range of existential themes in his own work, Mary Dearborn points out in her biography of Mailer that his knowledge of existential philosophy came mostly from reading William Barrett’s ''What Is Existentialism?'' However, Mailer was certainly aware of the philosophies of Sartre and de Beauvoir from the company he kept as a member of the ''Partisan Review'' circle, and by 1966 when he was interviewed for ''The Paris Review''’s “Art of Fiction” series, he admitted to having studied more of both Sartre and Heidegger.}} These existential themes are central to Mailer’s nonfiction essay | Mailer’s meditations on masculinity revolve around an existential anxiety in the midst of what he continually refers to as a cancerous or decaying society. His existential theory also draws on the tenets of French existentialism; in fact, I would suggest that though he is often maligned as a reactionary, anti-feminist writer, Mailer adopts a project quite similar to that of Simone de Beauvoir. His early work indicates that the major similarities between his definition of existentialism and that of both Beauvoir and Sartre lie within two particular tenets: his view of individual liberation as a step towards transcendence, and the importance of the role of an Other in that project.{{efn|While Mailer did not hesitate to call himself an existential author, and repeatedly referred to a wide range of existential themes in his own work, Mary Dearborn points out in her biography of Mailer that his knowledge of existential philosophy came mostly from reading William Barrett’s ''What Is Existentialism?'' However, Mailer was certainly aware of the philosophies of Sartre and de Beauvoir from the company he kept as a member of the ''Partisan Review'' circle, and by 1966 when he was interviewed for ''The Paris Review''’s “Art of Fiction” series, he admitted to having studied more of both Sartre and Heidegger.}} These existential themes are central to Mailer’s nonfiction essay “[[The White Negro]]” (1957) and his novel ''[[An American Dream]]'' (1965), two works that I believe most explicitly demonstrate the connections between existentialism, violence, and masculinity that pervade Mailer’s oeuvre. | ||
In these narratives, Mailer fashions protagonists who articulate a sense of entrapment within a stagnant situation, one that is often described in terms of death and decay. Mailer depicts this decay as arising from an increasingly totalitarian society that enforces conformity—a scenario that parallels the existential concept of immanence discussed by Beauvoir. In Mailer’s language, man’s immanence is associated with totalitarian oppression, and the direction of man’s ultimate existential quest is toward a transcendent liberty that would allow him to move outside of this oppressive culture and define himself as an “outlaw.” The protagonists’ repeated references to an escape from this conformity also invoke the existential language of transcendence, as both the hypothetical “sexual outlaw” of “The White Negro” and the morally ambiguous Stephen Rojack of ''An American Dream'' work to fashion a more expansive definition of masculinity that defies convention. | In these narratives, Mailer fashions protagonists who articulate a sense of entrapment within a stagnant situation, one that is often described in terms of death and decay. Mailer depicts this decay as arising from an increasingly totalitarian society that enforces conformity—a scenario that parallels the existential concept of immanence discussed by Beauvoir. In Mailer’s language, man’s immanence is associated with totalitarian oppression, and the direction of man’s ultimate existential quest is toward a transcendent liberty that would allow him to move outside of this oppressive culture and define himself as an “outlaw.” The protagonists’ repeated references to an escape from this conformity also invoke the existential language of transcendence, as both the hypothetical “sexual outlaw” of “The White Negro” and the morally ambiguous Stephen Rojack of ''An American Dream'' work to fashion a more expansive definition of masculinity that defies convention. | ||
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Furthermore, much of Mailer’s conception of existential masculinity in “The White Negro” and ''An American Dream'' is based on a masculine protagonist’s anxiety over being defined by what he lacks, a theme augmented by Mailer’s fixation on an “other” as an integral factor in the construction of a liberated masculine identity. Echoing Beauvoir’s comparisons among blacks, Jews, and women in America, Mailer’s constructions of both the “white negro” persona and the character of Stephen Rojack are founded on a simultaneous tension and identification with a racial or female other. That is, each protagonist sees some of himself in these others, yet also fears that this other will somehow threaten his own masculine power or authority. Thus, the masculine identity of each character comes to rely on either an approximation of the other’s identity or a complete eradication of the other’s threat. | Furthermore, much of Mailer’s conception of existential masculinity in “The White Negro” and ''An American Dream'' is based on a masculine protagonist’s anxiety over being defined by what he lacks, a theme augmented by Mailer’s fixation on an “other” as an integral factor in the construction of a liberated masculine identity. Echoing Beauvoir’s comparisons among blacks, Jews, and women in America, Mailer’s constructions of both the “white negro” persona and the character of Stephen Rojack are founded on a simultaneous tension and identification with a racial or female other. That is, each protagonist sees some of himself in these others, yet also fears that this other will somehow threaten his own masculine power or authority. Thus, the masculine identity of each character comes to rely on either an approximation of the other’s identity or a complete eradication of the other’s threat. | ||
In some ways, however, Mailer’s existentialism is as interesting for its differences to Beauvoir and Sartre as it is for its similarities. For example, his own conception of existentialism is grounded more in mysticism and instinct than in explicit philosophical or ideological principles. It is also much more concerned with a Manichean vision of the world: Mailer reads existentialism as a battle not simply between immanence and transcendence, but between good and evil. He believes that to be a “real” existentialist, one must “be religious” and have a sense of purpose that is grounded in an awareness of heaven and hell (a “meaningful but mysterious end”), a point that (as he himself admits) runs contrary to Sartre’s own atheistic existentialism.{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=341}}{{efn|In ''The Presidential Papers'' (1964), Mailer writes: “If God is not all powerful but existential, discovering the possibilities and limitations of his creative powers in the form of the history which is made by His creatures, then one must postulate an existential equal to God, an antagonist, the Devil, a principle of Evil whose signature was the concentration camps, whose joy is to waste substance, whose intent is to prevent God’s conception of being from reaching its mysterious goal.”{{sfn|Mailer|1964|p=193}} By contrast, in ''Existentialism is a Humanism'' (1946), Sartre writes: “Atheistic existentialism, which I represent, is more consistent. It states that if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence — a being whose existence comes before its essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept of it. That being is man, or as Heidegger puts it, the human reality.”{{sfn|Satre|2007|p=22}} }} In sum, Mailer draws on many fundamentals of existential theory put forth by some of the principle existential theorists, but also makes clear where these theories diverge from his own. In an interview with ''The Paris Review'', for example, Mailer states his suspicion that Sartre and Heidegger “are no closer to the buried continent of existentialism than were medieval cartographers near to a useful map of the world” for “the new continent which shows on our psychic maps as intimations of eternity is still to be discovered.”{{sfn|Mailer|1966|p=252}} For Mailer, these “psychic maps” include a more embattled vision of existential philosophy that includes references to God and the devil, as well an investment in the possibility of magic and mysticism. As J. Michael Lennon has noted, Mailer believed that his unique brand of religious existentialism offered the possibility of “spiritual transcendence,” something that was lacking from traditional American and European existentialism.{{sfn|Lennon|2013|p=203}} | In some ways, however, Mailer’s existentialism is as interesting for its differences to Beauvoir and Sartre as it is for its similarities. For example, his own conception of existentialism is grounded more in mysticism and instinct than in explicit philosophical or ideological principles. It is also much more concerned with a Manichean vision of the world: Mailer reads existentialism as a battle not simply between immanence and transcendence, but between good and evil. He believes that to be a “real” existentialist, one must “be religious” and have a sense of purpose that is grounded in an awareness of heaven and hell (a “meaningful but mysterious end”), a point that (as he himself admits) runs contrary to Sartre’s own atheistic existentialism.{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=341}}{{efn|In ''[[The Presidential Papers]]'' (1964), Mailer writes: “If God is not all powerful but existential, discovering the possibilities and limitations of his creative powers in the form of the history which is made by His creatures, then one must postulate an existential equal to God, an antagonist, the Devil, a principle of Evil whose signature was the concentration camps, whose joy is to waste substance, whose intent is to prevent God’s conception of being from reaching its mysterious goal.”{{sfn|Mailer|1964|p=193}} By contrast, in ''Existentialism is a Humanism'' (1946), Sartre writes: “Atheistic existentialism, which I represent, is more consistent. It states that if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence — a being whose existence comes before its essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept of it. That being is man, or as Heidegger puts it, the human reality.”{{sfn|Satre|2007|p=22}} }} In sum, Mailer draws on many fundamentals of existential theory put forth by some of the principle existential theorists, but also makes clear where these theories diverge from his own. In an interview with ''The Paris Review'', for example, Mailer states his suspicion that Sartre and Heidegger “are no closer to the buried continent of existentialism than were medieval cartographers near to a useful map of the world” for “the new continent which shows on our psychic maps as intimations of eternity is still to be discovered.”{{sfn|Mailer|1966|p=252}} For Mailer, these “psychic maps” include a more embattled vision of existential philosophy that includes references to God and the devil, as well an investment in the possibility of magic and mysticism. As J. Michael Lennon has noted, Mailer believed that his unique brand of religious existentialism offered the possibility of “spiritual transcendence,” something that was lacking from traditional American and European existentialism.{{sfn|Lennon|2013|p=203}} | ||
Despite these variant interpretations, the foundational similarities between his own existential premises and those of the French existentialists from whose work he borrows become apparent in his discussion of existential violence. These parallels are particularly evident when one compares Mailer’s ideology to that of Sartre, as both perceive interpersonal and political violence to be imbued with positively charged revolutionary and liberatory qualities. In his famous preface to Franz Fanon’s ''The Wretched of the Earth'', for instance, Sartre argues that “at the individual level, violence is a cleansing force” that has the potential to raise people up from oppression and subordination.{{sfn|Fanon|2004|p=51}} In Sartre’s estimation, then, violence contains within it a redeeming power. Similarly, Mailer views individual violence as a tool that can liberate men from the totalitarian oppression that threatens them, thus serving as a means to recuperate their compromised masculine identities. In a 1964 interview with W.J. Weatherby for ''Twentieth Century'', for instance, Mailer argues that individual violence is an essential response to a possible “extinction of possibilities” presented to us by our environment.{{sfn|Mailer|1982|p=28}} He further argues that those who lack an understanding of existential experience do not understand the complexities of violence, but for those who ''do'' harbor this understanding, violence can offer not only liberation, but revelation. “When violence is larger than one’s ability to dominate,” he notes, “it is existential and one is living in an instantaneous world of revelations.”{{sfn|Mailer|1982|p=30}} Thus, Mailer presents a vision of a specifically existential violence that has the potential to govern the way one lives and understands the world. Moreover, for Mailer violence not only offers the possibility of cleansing or healing, but also serves as a badge of honor or courage—a longstanding foundational point of his own definition of masculinity.{{efn|As early as age 20, Mailer was already commenting on the necessity of violence to the construction of an honorable manhood. In “A Calculus to Heaven,” a story he wrote as a senior at Harvard which was republished in ''Advertisements for Myself'', one of Mailer’s military heroes muses: “It might be necessary for him to die to find that dignity. Certainly, he thought, life and death and violent action were fundamentals, and he would find no lie there.”{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=51}} }} | Despite these variant interpretations, the foundational similarities between his own existential premises and those of the French existentialists from whose work he borrows become apparent in his discussion of existential violence. These parallels are particularly evident when one compares Mailer’s ideology to that of Sartre, as both perceive interpersonal and political violence to be imbued with positively charged revolutionary and liberatory qualities. In his famous preface to Franz Fanon’s ''The Wretched of the Earth'', for instance, Sartre argues that “at the individual level, violence is a cleansing force” that has the potential to raise people up from oppression and subordination.{{sfn|Fanon|2004|p=51}} In Sartre’s estimation, then, violence contains within it a redeeming power. Similarly, Mailer views individual violence as a tool that can liberate men from the totalitarian oppression that threatens them, thus serving as a means to recuperate their compromised masculine identities. In a 1964 interview with W.J. Weatherby for ''Twentieth Century'', for instance, Mailer argues that individual violence is an essential response to a possible “extinction of possibilities” presented to us by our environment.{{sfn|Mailer|1982|p=28}} He further argues that those who lack an understanding of existential experience do not understand the complexities of violence, but for those who ''do'' harbor this understanding, violence can offer not only liberation, but revelation. “When violence is larger than one’s ability to dominate,” he notes, “it is existential and one is living in an instantaneous world of revelations.”{{sfn|Mailer|1982|p=30}} Thus, Mailer presents a vision of a specifically existential violence that has the potential to govern the way one lives and understands the world. Moreover, for Mailer violence not only offers the possibility of cleansing or healing, but also serves as a badge of honor or courage—a longstanding foundational point of his own definition of masculinity.{{efn|As early as age 20, Mailer was already commenting on the necessity of violence to the construction of an honorable manhood. In “A Calculus to Heaven,” a story he wrote as a senior at Harvard which was republished in ''Advertisements for Myself'', one of Mailer’s military heroes muses: “It might be necessary for him to die to find that dignity. Certainly, he thought, life and death and violent action were fundamentals, and he would find no lie there.”{{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=51}} }} | ||
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* {{cite book |last=Girard |first=Rene |date=2005 |orig-year=1988 |title=Violence and the Sacred |translator-last=Gregory |translator-first=Patrick |url= |location=New York |publisher=Continuum |page= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Girard |first=Rene |date=2005 |orig-year=1988 |title=Violence and the Sacred |translator-last=Gregory |translator-first=Patrick |url= |location=New York |publisher=Continuum |page= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite journal |last1=Grobel |first1=Lawrence |date=2008 |title=Norman Mailer: Stupidity Brings Out Violence in Me |url= |journal=The Mailer Review |volume=2 |issue= |pages=426–451 |doi= |access-date= }} (Reprint from {{cite book |last= |first=|date=2001 |title=Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=De Capo Press |page= |isbn= |author-link=J. Michael Lennon |ref=harv }}) | * {{cite journal |last1=Grobel |first1=Lawrence |date=2008 |title=Norman Mailer: Stupidity Brings Out Violence in Me |url= |journal=The Mailer Review |volume=2 |issue= |pages=426–451 |doi= |access-date= }} (Reprint from {{cite book |last= |first=|date=2001 |title=Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=De Capo Press |page= |isbn= |author-link=J. Michael Lennon |ref=harv }}) | ||
* {{cite journal |last1=Krassner |first1=Paul |date=December 1962 |title=An Impolite Interview with Norman Mailer |url=http://www.ep.tc/realist/40/ |journal=The Realist |volume=40 |issue= |pages=1, 13–16, 18–23, 10 |doi= |access-date=2019-03-03 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Lennon |first=J. Michael |date=2013 |title=Norman Mailer: A Double Life |url= |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page= |isbn= |author-link=J. Michael Lennon |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Lennon |first=J. Michael |date=2013 |title=Norman Mailer: A Double Life |url= |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page= |isbn= |author-link=J. Michael Lennon |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title=Advertisements for Myself |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard UP |page= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title=Advertisements for Myself |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard UP |page= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | ||