88
edits
Amylhester (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amylhester (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
==I. Introduction== | ==I. Introduction== | ||
Norman Mailer was one of the most ambitious writers of our time. He had enormous faith in the power of writing to influence and change society and to alter the quality of human life. Despite the controversies that swirled around his public figure, he should be more recognized for the scope of his efforts to use his writing to transform America. With bravado, courage, and a bit of recklessness, he has repeatedly proclaimed his ''personal'' ambition to place himself, as a writer, in the company of literary giants and thereby remedy what he believes are America’s literary deficiencies, while also promising that he is about to write a novel that will create the “revolution in consciousness” (''Advertisements 17'') which he believes is necessary to rejuvenate a stagnant America,1 through writing the “great American novel” which | Norman Mailer was one of the most ambitious writers of our time. He had enormous faith in the power of writing to influence and change society and to alter the quality of human life. Despite the controversies that swirled around his public figure, he should be more recognized for the scope of his efforts to use his writing to transform America. With bravado, courage, and a bit of recklessness, he has repeatedly proclaimed his ''personal'' ambition to place himself, as a writer, in the company of literary giants and thereby remedy what he believes are America’s literary deficiencies, while also promising that he is about to write a novel that will create the “revolution in consciousness” (''Advertisements 17'') which he believes is necessary to rejuvenate a stagnant America,{{efn|1. See again ''Advertisements'' as well as essays in ''Cannibals and Christians'' and Norman Mailer, ''Pieces and Pontifications'' (Boston: Little Brown, 1982). This point recurs throughout his | ||
will “tell the truth of our times.” Undoubtedly, however, this effort has been fraught with difficulties; as Carl Rollyson explains in his biography of Mailer: “In the forty years since The Naked and the Dead Mailer has been searching for a way to write the great panoramic American novel.... America had seemed too complex for any single novelist—no matter how mature—to take on (359).” His last, sustained effort to reveal America through a work of fiction is the long historical novel about the CIA, ''Harlot’s Ghost''. However, this novel has been overlooked as the culmination of Mailer’s project of a fictional representation of America and therefore largely ignored as the important work of politically engaged fiction that I believe it is.2 This is undoubtedly because the novel presents a strange puzzle; both its content and form need careful consideration before its significance can be understand. | writing.}} through writing the “great American novel” which will “tell the truth of our times.” Undoubtedly, however, this effort has been fraught with difficulties; as Carl Rollyson explains in his biography of Mailer: “In the forty years since The Naked and the Dead Mailer has been searching for a way to write the great panoramic American novel.... America had seemed too complex for any single novelist—no matter how mature—to take on (359).” His last, sustained effort to reveal America through a work of fiction is the long historical novel about the CIA, ''Harlot’s Ghost''. However, this novel has been overlooked as the culmination of Mailer’s project of a fictional representation of America and therefore largely ignored as the important work of politically engaged fiction that I believe it is.2 This is undoubtedly because the novel presents a strange puzzle; both its content and form need careful consideration before its significance can be understand. | ||
My essay offers a reading of the novel in relation to Mailer’s efforts to use | My essay offers a reading of the novel in relation to Mailer’s efforts to use | ||
Line 543: | Line 543: | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
{{notelist}} | {{notelist}} | ||
2. One of the many critics who argue this way is Heather Nielson ~pp. 23–41!, who sums up | 2. One of the many critics who argue this way is Heather Nielson ~pp. 23–41!, who sums up | ||
her conclusion about Mailer’s politics based on Harlot’s Ghost and Oswald’s Tale by stating, “What an examination of the persistent presence of Kennedy in their writings tends | her conclusion about Mailer’s politics based on Harlot’s Ghost and Oswald’s Tale by stating, “What an examination of the persistent presence of Kennedy in their writings tends |
edits