Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) is possibly one of the greatest writers and thinkers of the 20th century. Possibly not. However, according to some of his critics he was little short of the devil incarnate. That such a range of statements is found in the same paragraph is a mark of the contradictory and provocative nature of a man who new no fear when it came to the role of the writer as artist.
Some people sample life, others observe it. In Mailer's case his philosophy was "be physical" - get in there and live life with passion, and an appreciation for those moments that separate leaders from followers; those times when fear, duty, experience, and courage come to the fore, as when a pugilist steps into the ring against someone who may well cause great pain and loss, yet does it anyway because winning is not possible until that bridge is crossed.
Of course as every war shows, the heat of the moment sometimes brings out the worst in people and Mailer was very publicly exposed when he was alleged to have stabbed Adele, one of his 6 wives.
Norman Mailer was always hard to define. The left hated him for his win at all costs attitudes, yet Mailer was a strident anti war campaigner. One of his greatest legacies is as co-founder of The Village Voice that beacon of iconoclasm that became the voice of political reform and champion of the cultural underground.
It is as a writer that Mailer always saw himself. His first book The Naked And The Dead is rightly described as one of the great novels of the 20th century, and his widely reported difficulties with finding publishers for subsequent books was more due to their sexual content than them being bad books.
His greatest contribution as a writer is as an innovator in the genre now called New Journalism, that area of creative non-fiction that includes non-fiction novels and essays. I might add that interview could be added to that, for to see Mailer being interviewed is to see a great mind at work. His conclusions may well be debateable, but his weaving of logic and emotion is powerful as well as challenging. Many celebrity artists reveal themselves to be fairly ordinary when speaking publicly, but Mailer always displayed great depths that suggested there were few things he did not consider and form opinions on.
His opinions enraged feminists, and many other writers appeared to despise him. The word feud is often used regarding his relations with other writers. In one altercation with Truman Capote, Mailer is said to have head butted his opponent.
It is probably inevitable that someone who is totally independent in thought and philosophy, who disdained the fashions of the moment in all their forms, and who was quite happy to be provocative and to say what he really thought of people and situations would invoke the full spectrum of admiration and hatred. Whether loved or reviled, however, the passing of Norman Mailer marks the passing of one of the most important and influentiual figures in 20th century literature and journalism.
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