98.11a

“A Step in Time with Norman Mailer.” Article-interview by Hedy Weiss. Chicago Sun-Times, 24 May, 1, 14. In this longish piece, Mailer talks about his time in the army, and his sensibility as a young man: “Like most Americans, I was formed without a deep cultural tradition, but with an innocence and optimism that is lacking in Europeans.” Recalling the 1960s, he said that the social revolution of that decade was not truly revolutionary: “It was a middle-class revolution, inspired primarily by resistance to the Vietnam War.” It was “always a bit provisional” and grew out of “the genuine outrage of youth . . . But, God, the ’60s were exciting.”