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The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/The Savage Poet—Unlocking the Universe with Metaphor: Difference between revisions
The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/The Savage Poet—Unlocking the Universe with Metaphor (view source)
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into life must by now be unguessable. Collectively their contents comprise | into life must by now be unguessable. Collectively their contents comprise | ||
a river of knowledge and enlightenment, but also one suspects a vast reservoir of the trivial and banal. If the voice of an individual writer is to be heard | a river of knowledge and enlightenment, but also one suspects a vast reservoir of the trivial and banal. If the voice of an individual writer is to be heard | ||
amongst the endless torrent of words | amongst the endless torrent of words he or she must develop a unique and | ||
distinctive voice. Few voices were more original or engaging than Norman | distinctive voice. Few voices were more original or engaging than Norman | ||
Mailer’s, especially when that voice spoke about the momentous events | Mailer’s, especially when that voice spoke about the momentous events | ||
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Tom Wolfe’s ''The Right Stuff''. Polar opposites in style they yet combine to make a comprehensive whole. | Tom Wolfe’s ''The Right Stuff''. Polar opposites in style they yet combine to make a comprehensive whole. | ||
Tucked away in my own copy of ''A Fire on the Moon'' (salvaged from a | Tucked away in my own copy of ''A Fire on the Moon'' (salvaged from a second-hand bookshop) is a clipping from the January 1971 edition of ''Time'' magazine, a review of Mailer’s book entitled ''Reflections on a Star-Cross Aquarius''. Rescued from its time capsule it provides not just the context for the book’s publication, but a literary fragment of the early 1970s. From a time when the fire of Apollo was still burning brightly enough for the exploits of its sons to be witnessed by a global audience, gazing both literally and metaphorically at the furthest of horizons. | ||
These celestial knights (who belong to American folklore as much as any | These celestial knights (who belong to American folklore as much as any | ||
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epic lands of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The great mountain-top pyres signaling across vast distances, kindling hope in desperate times. For | epic lands of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The great mountain-top pyres signaling across vast distances, kindling hope in desperate times. For | ||
metaphorical fires are surely still burning at the six Apollo landing sites and | metaphorical fires are surely still burning at the six Apollo landing sites and | ||
are yet visible with the naked eye if you know roughly where to look and | are yet visible with the naked eye if you know roughly where to look, and | ||
have enough imagination to conceive of what might have been. Mailer’s single fire is perhaps more accurately described as six individual markers. Like the cosmic perspectives offered in the stories of H. G. Wells, they can still | have enough imagination to conceive of what might have been. Mailer’s single fire is perhaps more accurately described as six individual markers. Like the cosmic perspectives offered in the stories of H. G. Wells, they can still | ||
capture the eye, drawing it out into the depths of space. And it is out there, | capture the eye, drawing it out into the depths of space. And it is out there, | ||
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most speculative and creative. | most speculative and creative. | ||
It is still to be hoped, and remains a cherished dream of many, that looking up at the Moon on a clear night is tantamount to gazing at a once and future home for humanity. That the two | It is still to be hoped, and remains a cherished dream of many, that looking up at the Moon on a clear night is tantamount to gazing at a once and future home for humanity. That the two world system so vividly described | ||
in Arthur C. Clarke’s ''Earthlight'' (1955) can yet became a reality. And perhaps, | in Arthur C. Clarke’s ''Earthlight'' (1955) can yet became a reality. And perhaps, | ||
as Mailer said, we will only ever do that and “''go out into space''” when we can | as Mailer said, we will only ever do that and “''go out into space''” when we can | ||