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The Mailer Review/Volume 1, 2007/Norman Mailer, “The White Negro,” and New Conceptions of the Self in Postwar America: Difference between revisions
The Mailer Review/Volume 1, 2007/Norman Mailer, “The White Negro,” and New Conceptions of the Self in Postwar America (view source)
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{{Byline|last=Petigny|first=Alan|abstract=Mailer’s concern about the lack of individuality in American society was not a substantiation of his claims but of the reverse. In an ironic way, the resonance of “[[The White Negro]]” during the late 1950s was further evidence of an ascendant spirit during the postwar era — one which was more secular, more expressive, and, in the aggregate, less conformist than anything that had come before.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr07peti}} | {{Byline|last=Petigny|first=Alan|abstract=Mailer’s concern about the lack of individuality in American society was not a substantiation of his claims but of the reverse. In an ironic way, the resonance of “[[The White Negro]]” during the late 1950s was further evidence of an ascendant spirit during the postwar era — one which was more secular, more expressive, and, in the aggregate, less conformist than anything that had come before.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr07peti}} | ||
{{dc|dc=D|avid Kirtzer, the current provost at Brown University,}} tells an interesting story about Norman Mailer. In 1967, while an undergraduate at Brown, Kirtzer was enrolled in an English literature class focusing on Mailer’s writings. Kirtzer was also the chapter president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and a day before a scheduled examination he left for Washington to take part in the March on the Pentagon. Unfortunately, Kirtzer was arrested in the march and, on the following day, he was despairing because instead of being in the classroom, he was in jail — completely missing his exam on Norman Mailer. However, as fate would have it, locked up in jail with him was none other than Norman Mailer. | |||
So Kirtzer went up to Mailer and said, “You know, I’m missing an exam today — on YOU!” | So Kirtzer went up to Mailer and said, “You know, I’m missing an exam today — on YOU!” | ||
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Humanistic psychology, however, had few of these restraints. Its emphasis was on man’s ability to persevere, to overcome, to triumph. Thus, throughout the writings of Carl Rogers and his close colleague Abraham Maslow, the themes of “potential” and “growth” continually reappear. Therefore, it seems counter-intuitive Protestant churches would choose Rogers over Freud, but embrace Rogers they did — and with great enthusiasm. | Humanistic psychology, however, had few of these restraints. Its emphasis was on man’s ability to persevere, to overcome, to triumph. Thus, throughout the writings of Carl Rogers and his close colleague Abraham Maslow, the themes of “potential” and “growth” continually reappear. Therefore, it seems counter-intuitive Protestant churches would choose Rogers over Freud, but embrace Rogers they did — and with great enthusiasm. | ||
As Seward Hiltner, editor of ''Pastoral Psychology'' and the author of the most frequently used book in the teaching of ministerial counseling, observed, Carl Rogers was “more concretely influential” in the pastoral counseling movement “than any other individual.”{{sfn|Holifield|1983|p=265}} This mattered a great deal during the 1950s because Americans were approximately three times as likely to go to a minister to assist them dealing with a problem of psychological nature than they were to consult a psychologist or a psychiatrist.{{sfn| | As Seward Hiltner, editor of ''Pastoral Psychology'' and the author of the most frequently used book in the teaching of ministerial counseling, observed, Carl Rogers was “more concretely influential” in the pastoral counseling movement “than any other individual.”{{sfn|Holifield|1983|p=265}} This mattered a great deal during the 1950s because Americans were approximately three times as likely to go to a minister to assist them dealing with a problem of psychological nature than they were to consult a psychologist or a psychiatrist.{{sfn|Gurin|Veroff|Feld|1960|p=121}} In other words, there was a lot of psychological counseling going on during the fifties, but the bulk of this counseling was not occurring on the psychologist’s couch, but in a minister’s office. | ||
The Protestant churches’ acceptance of Rogers, and their lack of enthusiasm for Freudian analysis, speaks to a larger question. During the 1930s and 1940s Freudian analysis was rarely embraced by religion because it was seen as too liberal. However, during the 1950s churches were slow to embrace psychoanalysis because they tended to see it as too conservative. Put simply, during the peace and prosperity of the Eisenhower years, when trust in the government was high and faith in the future abounded, psychoanalysis was simply seen as too dark, too depressing, too inflexible, and too inhibiting for an increasing number of Americans. To be sure, the politics of the 1950s were conservative. However, once we scratch the surface, what we find underneath are far-reaching changes unfolding on a grassroots level during the Age of Eisenhower — changes which should have heartened feminists, secularists, progressives, and even Norman Mailer himself. | The Protestant churches’ acceptance of Rogers, and their lack of enthusiasm for Freudian analysis, speaks to a larger question. During the 1930s and 1940s Freudian analysis was rarely embraced by religion because it was seen as too liberal. However, during the 1950s churches were slow to embrace psychoanalysis because they tended to see it as too conservative. Put simply, during the peace and prosperity of the Eisenhower years, when trust in the government was high and faith in the future abounded, psychoanalysis was simply seen as too dark, too depressing, too inflexible, and too inhibiting for an increasing number of Americans. To be sure, the politics of the 1950s were conservative. However, once we scratch the surface, what we find underneath are far-reaching changes unfolding on a grassroots level during the Age of Eisenhower — changes which should have heartened feminists, secularists, progressives, and even Norman Mailer himself. | ||
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* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1998 |title=The Time of Our Time |url= |location=New York |publisher=Modern Library |page= |isbn= |author-link=Norman Mailer |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1998 |title=The Time of Our Time |url= |location=New York |publisher=Modern Library |page= |isbn= |author-link=Norman Mailer |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite journal |last1=Marx |first1=Gary T. |date=Summer 1967 |title=The White Negro and the Negro White |url=http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/whitenegro.html |access-date=2019-02-16 |journal=Phylon |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=168–177 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite journal |last1=Marx |first1=Gary T. |date=Summer 1967 |title=The White Negro and the Negro White |url=http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/whitenegro.html |access-date=2019-02-16 |journal=Phylon |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=168–177 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite journal | | * {{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Carl |date=June 1946 |title=Significant Aspects of Client-Centered Therapy |url= |journal=The American Psychologist |volume= |issue= |pages=415–421 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book | | * {{cite book |last=Rothe |first=Anne |date=1949 |chapter=Mann, Marty |title=Current Biography |url= |location=New York |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |page= |isbn= |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Spock |first=Benjamin |date=1946 |title=The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care |url= |location=New York |publisher=Duell, Sloan & Pearce |page= |isbn= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Spock |first=Benjamin |date=1946 |title=The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care |url= |location=New York |publisher=Duell, Sloan & Pearce |page= |isbn= |ref=harv }} | ||
{{refend}} | {{refend}} | ||