Research Article NORMAN MAILER

Available Online at http://www.recentscientific.com International Journal of CODEN: IJRSFP (USA) Recent Scientific

International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Research Vol. 11, Issue, 12 (A), pp. 40220-40222, December, 2020 ISSN: 0976-3031 DOI: 10.24327/IJRSR Research Article

NORMAN MAILER: IN SEARCH OF SOCIABLE MAN: A STUDY OF HIS SELECTED WORKS

Rajendran M1., Rajeshkannan T2., Bavani R3 and Ekambaram G4

1,3,4Department of English, Vel Tech High Tech Engineering College, Avadi, Chennai - 600 002, Tamil Nadu, India 2Department of English, Velammal Institute of Technology, Panchetti, Chennai -601204 Tamil Nadu, India

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2020.1112.5652

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

This analysis examines Norman Mailer as a sociable man and literary genus with reference to the Article History: study of his selected works in highlighting the post-war writers in detail. Emphasis is laid on a th Received 13 September, 2020 search for the sociable man in American contemporary society to explore the archetypal emotions th Received in revised form 11 connected with war, power, power through politics and power through sex. October, 2020 Methods: The analysis of a search for the archetypes of Mailer’s select works were examined th Accepted 8 November, 2020 especially related to the contemporary American society. This study takes into account Mailer’s th Published online 28 December, 2020 background as a literary genius, a man and a writer, his special contribution to the genre of the selected works in terms of fiction, his place in the history of ideas of his own time in assessing the Key Words: permanent value of his creative fiction.

In search of Norman Mailer, a Sociable Findings: The search for the sociable man in American contemporary society is examined in The man, a writer, a literary genius, examined, Naked and the Dead in terms of power through war and sex. The power through politics in the archetypes of war, Power, politics and Barbary Shore is also analysed. The search for the sociable man and power through sex is studied sex, selected works. in The Deer Park and in An American Dream in detail. It also explores Mailer’s techniques of narration, style, characterization and the influences in fixing Mailer’s pre-occupation with the archetypal emotions, especially Twentieth Century American contemporary society with reference to the study of his major fiction as a sociable man, a writer and a literary genius of 20th century contemporary American fiction.

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INTRODUCTION Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer more than any other American writer of the Norman Mailer was befriended by great personalities like John mid-twentieth century appears to be the most representative F. Kennedy, Marilyn Munroe, Henry Miller, Arthur Miller, American. All the contradictions and complexities, the Noam Chomsky and Jean Malaquais. Hence Norman Mailer crudities and the exaltation, the bestiality and the saintliness are was a power to reckon with. Mailer’s Jewish birth, strict all found in an abundant measure in Norman Mailer himself religious upbringing, the liberal education at Harvard university and his character in his selected works. [1] “It is a critical the first-hand experience of the Second World War, his commonplace that no writer could escape being a mouthpiece personal knowledge of Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy-all of and an interpreter for the society that breeds him. Mailer has these contributed to the fascinating nature of Mailer’s more than once confessed that he was deeply indebted to personality as a sociable man and literary genius.

Hemingway, E.M.Forster and D.H.Lawrence. Mailer took to This analysis takes into account Mailer’s background as a novel because he intuitively realized that it was the novelist writer, his special contribution to the genre of his selected who could present the true history of the human race. Robert novels and his place in the history of ideas of his own time in Ehrlich has emphasized the importance of emotions in the assessing the permanent value of his creative fiction. Norman novels of Norman Mailer: “He is especially interested in the [2] Mailer’s contribution to American literature was quite sizeable. complexity of emotional life.” He wrote fiction as well as a lot of non-fiction. But Norman

*Corresponding author: Rajendran M Department of English, Vel Tech High Tech Engineering College, Avadi, Chennai - 600 002, Tamil Nadu, India International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Vol. 11, Issue, 12 (A), pp. 40220-40222, December, 2020

Mailer himself laid great emphasis on the novels as most Cummings, a Lieutenant Hearn, an O’Shaughnessy, an Eitel important and the most difficult art form. Mailer says in an and a Rojack were all representative human beings. Their interview: “…it (novel) is the most difficult of all the forms I immediate environment might be modern American society; have tried.” [3] but nature of their basic emotions, desires, ambitions, weaknesses and strengths were all truly representative of This study has made an attempt to dive below the stormy sea of human race in general.” [8] action and muddied whirlpool of motives and sentiments in order to bring out a consistent and coherent view of his fiction The novel, The Naked and the Dead, as a literary form about as the outcome of the interplay of certain archetypal passion in man-sinful, murderous, inhuman and evil, mostly seeks human life. These archetypal passion are actually the redemption and who desires to endure against all forces, his instinctive search of man. These quests were war, power, own as well as the outside, natural forces. The great value of politics and sex which reveals Mailer’s genius in portraying Mailer’s achievement is that he revealed to age - old human 20th century American contemporary society. tensions - the struggle between animal desire and authority in Quest for War the essential pattern of power, gravity and veracity never seen in the American novel. The aim of the analysis is to bring to Mailer makes use of war only as background to his internal light a basic motive in each one of Mailer’s Stanley T. Gutman themes of identity, humanity and man. In this connection beautifully states this belief in his work. Mailer is very much Stanley T.Gutman says: “The man idea of human life is a interested in power and its manifestations. Power to him is continual struggle… War, nothing but war.”[4] fascinating because it is unrepressed, it is elemental and Mailer presents the bestial qualities in man. He actually gives archetypal. the moral responsibility and right to kill his enemies. Brutal Quest for Politics murders committed in war are not crimes before law or even God. He also stresses that every man has in him both qualities The politics in Barbary Shore is beautifully presented through of a ‘beast ‘and that of a ‘seer’. Donald Kaufmann observes: long discussions between McLeod and Hollingsworth, Lovett “Mailer’s narrative accents the negative demonstrating and McLeod. John Stark considers Barbary Shore as a characters of drifting from ‘seer’ to ‘beast’.” [5] contemporary political allegory. In this connection Stark observes: “In the political allegory… Hollingsworth represents The inherent meaning and archetypes of Why Are We in the Capitalist State; Lennie and Lovett, Trotskyism; and Vietnam? is a parable about contemporary American society McLeod, Bolshevism. They all woo Guinevere who represents would be more clearly in the words of Philip H. Bufithis says: the masses. The changing alliances and rivalries, the successes “The parable is clear. The hunting party is the American and failures in the novel allegorically present a capsule history military in miniature, replete with commanders and their GI of the Left, and the characterization implies Mailer’s political subordinates. The crazed animal being annihilated by aerial beliefs.” [9] machines are the people of Vietnam attacked by the Air Force. But such equations do little to help us understand the art or the Even writing a political novel Mailer dose not forget to real ideational power of this book.” [6] Mailer suggests that one emphasize the importance of art and writing in a man’s life. cannot escape violence, because it is rooted in nature of human The irony is that neither politics, nor sex, writing, is satisfying life. However Mailer argues that man could decide the forms of in contemporary American society. This point is emphasized expression which this violence would take. by John Stark:” … in Barbary Shore writing is no more satisfying or meaningful thin is sex.” [10] Barry H. Leeds comes to a sensible and acceptable conclusion about the relative merit of Why Are We in Vietnam? “It is my Mailer claims that Barbary Shore is America’s first existential contention that An American Dream is a more commendable novel, but Lovett does not engage in the primary existential act and significant novel than any other Mailer has yet written, of cresting his own ethical values from an unvarnished and including The Naked and the Dead, In it, narrative deeply felt experience of the world. Mailer treats the effect of techniques, metaphorical patterns and a highly personal the Russian revolution in two broad section - first its impact of existential vision are integrally combined to effect an artistic politics and second its impact on the individuals. The impact on statement which is exceedingly relevant to the live of every the field of politics in Barbary Shore is beautifully presented thinking American. It is lack of such integration upon which through long discussions between McLeod and Hollingsworth, the failure of Why Are We in Vietnam? Ultimately rests.” [7] Lovett and McLeod.

Quest for power in The Naked and the Dead The power through political manoeuvring is the archetypal passion in every human being and Mailer emphasize this The Naked and the Dead is an exploration of man’s quest for archetypal quest in one form or another in all the characters in archetypal power. In this novel Mailer delineates the characters Barbary shore. differences-emotional, geographic, social, economic, because he intends to constitute a microcosmic portrait of the American Quest for Sex people. It is interesting that Norman Mailer seems to consider Mailer’s derive and sex led him as a novelist to take the view the archetypal quests as a never ending process. that a man’s sex life and its nature decide a man’s attitude to In Norman Mailer, “a novelist’s concern was chiefly with the life, his character, his philosophy and the nature of his men and women who lived through his novel. The king of life interaction with other men. The Time Machine’ segments in they live constitutes naturally the writer’s vision of particular The Naked and the Dead apart from being a novel technique, representative of humanity. A Sergeant Croft, a General are socio-sexual studies of the character concerned. It is 40221 | P a g e Rajendran M et al., Norman Mailer: In Search of Sociable Man: A Study of His Selected Works

Mailer’s sexual diagnosis of each character that adds an References interesting dimension to the characterization. For him sex is primeval, as old as creation. It is in fact one of the archetypal 1. Hassan, Ihab. Radical Innocence: Studies in the passions of human life. Contemporary American Novel. Princeton University Press: New Jersey 1961. A true understanding of sex according to Mailer could be 2. Begiebing, Robert J. Acts of Regeneration: Allegory and revealed only to an artist and the artist who very nearly comes Archetypes in the Works of Norman Mailer. University to realize the true meaning of sex is Rojack in An American of Missouri press: Columbia & London, 1980. Dream. In The Deer Park, the Hollywood as the background, 3. Ehrillich, Robert. Norman Mailer: The Radical as the theme of sex becomes all the more powerful. Mailer Hipster. Scarecrow press: New Jersey & London, stresses the point that Desert D’ or is The Deer park of the 1978. film stars or the new American aristocracy. 4. Mailer, Norman Advertisements for Myself, The New

Man as a social being is conditioned by power and politics of American Library of World Literature: New York, 1960. the society to which he belongs. Thus Mailer views human life 5. S.T. Gutman. Mankind in Barbary: The Individual and as a massive force, a compound of the archetypal passions-war, Society in the Novels of Norman Mailer. The University power, politics and sex.In an interview Mailer confessed that Press of New England: Honover, New Hompshire, 1975. he was aware of the great responsibilities of novelist: “I write 6. Bufithis, Philip H. Norman Mailer. Frederick Unger because I want to reach people and by reaching them, influence Publishing Co: New York. 1978. the history of my time a little bit.” [11] 7. Mills Hillary, Norman Mailer. Saturday review. 1981. 8. Foster Richard, Norman Mailer: Minneapolis: CONCLUSION University of Minnesota Press. 1968. 9. D.L. Kaufmann, Norman Mailer: The countdown: The Mailer’s selected works do not provide mere entertainment First Twenty Years. Carbondale: Sothern Illinois only. Through his selected works Mailer makes us think and University press. 1969. understand out predicament as citizens of a post-war world in 10. Writers at Work: Third Series, New York: Viking Press. which anarchy is a rule of human life. Once Mailer was asked 1967. what his main ambition was and replied quickly to be a real 11. B.H. Leeds. The structured vision of Norman Mailer. man and a writer. Mailer is undoubtedly a great writer of New York: New York University Press. 1969. genius today who brings and social awareness for futuristic developments in society as a Contemporary American society, asa sociable man during the 20th century.

How to cite this article:

Rajendran M et al.2020, Norman Mailer: In Search of Sociable Man: A Study of His Selected Works. Int J Recent Sci Res. 11(12), pp. 40220-40222. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2020.1112.5652

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