10,114
edits
The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Heart of the Nation: Jewish Values in the Fiction of Norman Mailer: Difference between revisions
The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Heart of the Nation: Jewish Values in the Fiction of Norman Mailer (view source)
Revision as of 07:46, 24 September 2020
, 24 September 2020Fixed a ref. Many more need fixing to eliminate cat error.
(Place paragraphs 9, 10 and 11) |
m (Fixed a ref. Many more need fixing to eliminate cat error.) |
||
| Line 72: | Line 72: | ||
It is a connection well known, and as Nathan Glazer in '' American Judaism '' points out: “the Jewish religious tradition probably does dispose Jews ... towards liberalism and radicalism” {{sfn|Glazer |1957|p=139}} Mailer emerges from this Jewish tradition, the strong left- wing liberal side, which while eschewing ritual, rabbis took to heart its strong social concerns. Sherman also notes this attraction of Jews to the most “prophetic” of all -isms, Marxism. One recalls Mailer’s own involvement with Wallace’s Progressive Party and his detailed study of Marxism in his second novel, '' Barbary Shore ''. Similarly, these prophetic concerns predominate in his novels, '' The Deer Park '', which has as its backdrop, Hollywood, the HUAC, and the Korean War; '' An American Dream '', a panoramic study of a garden gone to seed; and '' Why Are We in Vietnam? '', a study of a schizophrenic nation, to mention but a few instances. | It is a connection well known, and as Nathan Glazer in '' American Judaism '' points out: “the Jewish religious tradition probably does dispose Jews ... towards liberalism and radicalism” {{sfn|Glazer |1957|p=139}} Mailer emerges from this Jewish tradition, the strong left- wing liberal side, which while eschewing ritual, rabbis took to heart its strong social concerns. Sherman also notes this attraction of Jews to the most “prophetic” of all -isms, Marxism. One recalls Mailer’s own involvement with Wallace’s Progressive Party and his detailed study of Marxism in his second novel, '' Barbary Shore ''. Similarly, these prophetic concerns predominate in his novels, '' The Deer Park '', which has as its backdrop, Hollywood, the HUAC, and the Korean War; '' An American Dream '', a panoramic study of a garden gone to seed; and '' Why Are We in Vietnam? '', a study of a schizophrenic nation, to mention but a few instances. | ||
The role of prophet is one that Mailer has often portrayed himself as playing: “He has been a poor prophet of the Sixties but it was not a century for | The role of prophet is one that Mailer has often portrayed himself as playing: “He has been a poor prophet of the Sixties but it was not a century for prophets.”{{sfn|Mailer|1971|p=141}} (The prophets were not “nice Jewish boys” either.) Every novel, every piece of fiction, essay, or work of reportage of Mailer’s has a touchstone quality about it, showing us where we are at a particular moment in time. Even more so, it has led to some of his most beautiful writing: | ||
{{quote|Let the bugle blow. The death of America rides in on the smog. America—the land where a new kind of man was born from the idea that God was present in every man not only as compassion but as power .... Deliver us from our curse. For we must end on the road to that mystery where courage, death, and the dream of love give promise of sleep.{{sfn|Mailer|1968|p=316-317}} }} | |||
Reading this quotation, I am reminded of Mailer’s comment on Henry Miller: “a writer of the largest dimension can alter the nerves and marrow of a | Reading this quotation, I am reminded of Mailer’s comment on Henry Miller: “a writer of the largest dimension can alter the nerves and marrow of a nation.”{{sfn|Mailer|1976|p=191}} I think it is an apt appraisal of Mailer’s ''own'' contribution to our nation’s literature and consciousness. | ||
===Citations=== | ===Citations=== | ||
| Line 82: | Line 82: | ||
===Works Cited=== | ===Works Cited=== | ||
{{Refbegin|indent=yes| | {{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}} | ||
* {{cite book |author=<!--none attributed--> |date=1984 |title=Complete Art Scroll Siddur |url= |location=New York |publisher=Mesorah |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |author=<!--none attributed--> |date=1984 |title=Complete Art Scroll Siddur |url= |location=New York |publisher=Mesorah |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Glazer |first=Nathan |date=1957 | title=American Judaism |editor-last= Boorstein |editor-first=Daniel J. |location=Chicago |publisher=U of Chicago P |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Glazer |first=Nathan |date=1957 | title=American Judaism |editor-last= Boorstein |editor-first=Daniel J. |location=Chicago |publisher=U of Chicago P |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | ||