September 15, 2019: Difference between revisions
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{{Large|Mailer’s Political Resonance}} | {{Large|Mailer’s Political Resonance}} | ||
===Themes=== | ===Themes=== | ||
* | ====Fascism==== | ||
* is humanity’s natural state{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=70}} | |||
* against political correctness{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=117}} | |||
** “we’ve got to find a way to say human nature is both ugly and beautiful, and we have to deal with both.”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=127}} | |||
* “Americans are angrier now than at any time I’ve ever seen them.” — “rage”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=121}} | |||
* flag conservatism and moral reform{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=50, 52}} | |||
** strive for world empire to begin moral reform at home{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=51–52, 57}} | |||
** becomes a moral imperative{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=53}} | |||
* See the end of {{harvtxt|Hitchens|1997|}} for a likely scenario of a fascist takeover. In some ways, it seems similar to Trump’s America, though instead of solely against black Americans, it also demonizes Mexicans and Muslims. | |||
** {{harvtxt|Baumann|2016|}} compares Mailer’s analysis of Barry Goldwater and his supporters to Trump and his with some striking similarities. | |||
** could happen quickly because of our lack of tradition{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=108–109}} | |||
* “Compulsive adoration of our leaders is poison, after all.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=85}} | |||
====Personal Responsibility (The Necessity of Criticism)==== | |||
* “When you have a great country, it’s your duty to be critical of it so it can become even greater.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=15}} | |||
* “The politics of Norman Mailer have conventionally been evaluated more as a personal register of the American zeitgeist, and less as owing any debt or duty to ideology.”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=115}} | |||
* Left Conservative — “a challenge to those who remain fixed in orthodoxy or correctness”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=116}} | |||
* '''Cancer''' is an outgrowth of inaction or conformity.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=19}} | |||
* “Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | |||
* Mike Lennon: “Truth comes out of opposition.”{{sfn|Brady|2018|}} | |||
* | ====Democracy==== | ||
** | * “Democracy is existential”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=16}} | ||
** is noble and always threatened{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=70}} | |||
** We cannot take democracy for granted because it is always in peril and always changing.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=16–17}} | |||
** Is hard-won and maintained: “The only defenses of democracy, finally, are the traditions of democracy.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=70}} | |||
** '''“Democracy is a state of grace attained only by those countries that have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.”'''{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=71}} [bold mine] | |||
** “If our democracy is the noblest experiment in the history of civilization, it may also be the most singularly vulnerable one.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=110}} | |||
* “inimical to security”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=106}} — Mailer hopes there’s not another national crisis to push us toward fascism (Was Obama’s presidency that thing for those who are now in power?) | |||
* depends on critical distinctions{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=108}} | |||
* links freedom to democracy, and asserts it’s just as delicate — also the thing he likes most about America{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=110}} | |||
====Corporate Capitalism==== | |||
* “Corporate power is running this country now.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=104}} (See the discussion that follows.) | |||
* against corporations,{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=117}} as they expanded into American life since WWII,{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=48}} and abroad (leading to 9/11){{sfn|Treneman|2001|}} | |||
* contradiction; leads to greed in a “Christian nation”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=120}} | |||
** live as an oxymoron: be altruistic / “beat everyone” | |||
** “money-grab” of the nineties led to a “pervasive American guilt”;{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=108}} “Christian bad conscience”{{sfn|Binelli|2007|p=69}} | |||
** “money leaches out all other values”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=108}} | |||
** “Jesus and Evel Knievel don’t consort too well in one psyche.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=46}} | |||
* “Marketing was a beast and a force that succeeded in taking America away from most of us.” | |||
** created a '''culture of interruption''' that led to a '''deterioration of concentration'''. Mailer was talking about commercials on television, so arguably this problem has gotten worse with our devices and notifications.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=89–91}} | |||
* | * {{Anchor|Plastic}}likens corporatism to “the pall of plastic”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=46}} | ||
** the aim of technological society is to work everything over to plastic{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=92}} | |||
** “We live in a cheaper environment now than we used to.”{{sfn|Binelli|2007|p=69}} | |||
* ''' | ====Technology==== | ||
* inspires totalitarianism{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | |||
* “more information, more connection, is not going to make us more learned—'''we could lose our connection to existence itself'''.”{{sfn|''Rolling Stone'', December 30,|1999|p=110}} [my bold] This links to the ideas about [[#Plastic|plastic]] above: plastic as a cheap material that manages to isolate us from something essential. | |||
* “Technology has become the dominant culture in existence and may soon be the only real culture.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=88–89}} | |||
* contributes to “the deterioration of the powers of concentration, like florescent lights, bad architecture, invasive marketing and ubiquitous plastic{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=91}} | |||
* frays the soul;{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=91}} “slightly deadening”{{sfn|Binelli|2007|p=70}} | |||
* substitutes power for pleasure, making us narcissistic and power-driven{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=92}} | |||
===Citations=== | ===Citations=== | ||
| Line 55: | Line 59: | ||
===Working Bibliography=== | ===Working Bibliography=== | ||
{{Refbegin}} | |||
* {{cite news |last=Baumann |first=Paul |date=March 23, 2016 |title=Mailer on Trump |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/mailer-trump |work=Commonweal |location= |access-date=2016-10-01 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite news |last=Baumann |first=Paul |date=March 23, 2016 |title=Mailer on Trump |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/mailer-trump |work=Commonweal |location= |access-date=2016-10-01 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite journal |last=Begiebing |first=Robert |title=Norman Mailer and Joseph Ellis: Unsettling Dialogues on Democracy |url= |journal=The Mailer Review |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2020 |pages= |access-date= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite journal |last=Begiebing |first=Robert |title=Norman Mailer and Joseph Ellis: Unsettling Dialogues on Democracy |url= |journal=The Mailer Review |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2020 |pages= |access-date= |ref=harv }} | ||
| Line 61: | Line 66: | ||
* {{cite magazine |last=Busa |first=Christopher |date=1999 |title=Interview with Norman Mailer |url=https://outline.com/m2E6V5 |magazine=Provincetown Arts |pages=24–32 |access-date=2019-09-15 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite magazine |last=Busa |first=Christopher |date=1999 |title=Interview with Norman Mailer |url=https://outline.com/m2E6V5 |magazine=Provincetown Arts |pages=24–32 |access-date=2019-09-15 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite journal |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Norman Mailer: A Minority of One |url= |journal=New Left Review |volume=22 |issue=March/April |date=1997 |pages=115–128 |access-date= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite journal |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Norman Mailer: A Minority of One |url= |journal=New Left Review |volume=22 |issue=March/April |date=1997 |pages=115–128 |access-date= |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=2013 |chapter=Immodest Proposals |title=Mind of an Outlaw | | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=2013 |chapter=Immodest Proposals |title=Mind of an Outlaw |editor-last=Sipiora |editor-first=Phillip |location=New York |publisher=Random House |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=2003 |title=Why Are We at War? |url= |location=New York |publisher=Random House |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=2003 |title=Why Are We at War? |url= |location=New York |publisher=Random House |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last1=Mailer |first1=Norman |last2=Mailer |first2=John Buffalo |date=2006 |title=The Big Empty |url= |location=New York |publisher=Nation Books |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last1=Mailer |first1=Norman |last2=Mailer |first2=John Buffalo |date=2006 |title=The Big Empty |url= |location=New York |publisher=Nation Books |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite magazine |last=McAfee |first=Andrew |date=October 23, 2019 |title=Technology Will Keep Us From Running Out of Stuff |url=https://www.wired.com/story/technology-will-keep-us-from-running-out-of-stuff/ |magazine=Wired |pages= |access-date=2019-10-24 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite magazine |last=McAfee |first=Andrew |date=October 23, 2019 |title=Technology Will Keep Us From Running Out of Stuff |url=https://www.wired.com/story/technology-will-keep-us-from-running-out-of-stuff/ |magazine=Wired |pages= |access-date=2019-10-24 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite magazine |author=<!--none stated--> |date=December 30, 1999 |title=The Party |url= |magazine=Rolling Stone |page=110 |access-date= |ref=harv }} | |||
* {{cite news |last=Pritchard |first=William |date=November 24, 2016 |title=Stormin’ Norman |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/stormin-norman |work=Washington Examiner |location= |access-date=2019-10-01 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite news |last=Pritchard |first=William |date=November 24, 2016 |title=Stormin’ Norman |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/stormin-norman |work=Washington Examiner |location= |access-date=2019-10-01 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Sheed |first=Wilfred |date=1971 |chapter=Norman Mailer: Genius or Nothing |title=The Morning After: Selected Essays and Reviews |url= |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |pages=9–17 |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | * {{cite book |last=Sheed |first=Wilfred |date=1971 |chapter=Norman Mailer: Genius or Nothing |title=The Morning After: Selected Essays and Reviews |url= |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |pages=9–17 |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite news |last=Treneman |first=Ann |date=September 13, 2001 |title='Ruin more beautiful than the building' |url=https://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/norman-mailer-ruin-more-beautiful-than-the-building/ |work=Times |location=London |access-date=2019-10-26 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite news |last=Treneman |first=Ann |date=September 13, 2001 |title='Ruin more beautiful than the building' |url=https://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/norman-mailer-ruin-more-beautiful-than-the-building/ |work=Times |location=London |access-date=2019-10-26 |ref=harv }} | ||
* {{cite news |last=Wade |first=Francis |date=August 12, 2019 |title=Reading 'The Armies of the Night' in an Age of Youth Protest |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rereading-armies-night/ |work=LA Review of Books |location= |access-date=2019-09-15 |ref=harv }} | * {{cite news |last=Wade |first=Francis |date=August 12, 2019 |title=Reading 'The Armies of the Night' in an Age of Youth Protest |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rereading-armies-night/ |work=LA Review of Books |location= |access-date=2019-09-15 |ref=harv }} | ||
{{Refend}} | |||
{{2019|state=expanded}} | {{2019|state=expanded}} | ||
Revision as of 08:47, 26 October 2019
Mailer’s Political Resonance
Themes
Fascism
- is humanity’s natural state[1]
- against political correctness[2]
- “we’ve got to find a way to say human nature is both ugly and beautiful, and we have to deal with both.”[3]
- “Americans are angrier now than at any time I’ve ever seen them.” — “rage”[4]
- flag conservatism and moral reform[5]
- See the end of Hitchens (1997) for a likely scenario of a fascist takeover. In some ways, it seems similar to Trump’s America, though instead of solely against black Americans, it also demonizes Mexicans and Muslims.
- Baumann (2016) compares Mailer’s analysis of Barry Goldwater and his supporters to Trump and his with some striking similarities.
- could happen quickly because of our lack of tradition[8]
- “Compulsive adoration of our leaders is poison, after all.”[9]
Personal Responsibility (The Necessity of Criticism)
- “When you have a great country, it’s your duty to be critical of it so it can become even greater.”[10]
- “The politics of Norman Mailer have conventionally been evaluated more as a personal register of the American zeitgeist, and less as owing any debt or duty to ideology.”[11]
- Left Conservative — “a challenge to those who remain fixed in orthodoxy or correctness”[12]
- Cancer is an outgrowth of inaction or conformity.[13]
- “Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”[14]
- Mike Lennon: “Truth comes out of opposition.”[15]
Democracy
- “Democracy is existential”[16]
- is noble and always threatened[1]
- We cannot take democracy for granted because it is always in peril and always changing.[17]
- Is hard-won and maintained: “The only defenses of democracy, finally, are the traditions of democracy.”[1]
- “Democracy is a state of grace attained only by those countries that have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.”[18] [bold mine]
- “If our democracy is the noblest experiment in the history of civilization, it may also be the most singularly vulnerable one.”[19]
- “inimical to security”[20] — Mailer hopes there’s not another national crisis to push us toward fascism (Was Obama’s presidency that thing for those who are now in power?)
- depends on critical distinctions[21]
- links freedom to democracy, and asserts it’s just as delicate — also the thing he likes most about America[19]
Corporate Capitalism
- “Corporate power is running this country now.”[22] (See the discussion that follows.)
- against corporations,[2] as they expanded into American life since WWII,[23] and abroad (leading to 9/11)[24]
- contradiction; leads to greed in a “Christian nation”[25]
- “Marketing was a beast and a force that succeeded in taking America away from most of us.”
- created a culture of interruption that led to a deterioration of concentration. Mailer was talking about commercials on television, so arguably this problem has gotten worse with our devices and notifications.[28]
- likens corporatism to “the pall of plastic”[27]
Technology
- inspires totalitarianism[14]
- “more information, more connection, is not going to make us more learned—we could lose our connection to existence itself.”[30] [my bold] This links to the ideas about plastic above: plastic as a cheap material that manages to isolate us from something essential.
- “Technology has become the dominant culture in existence and may soon be the only real culture.”[31]
- contributes to “the deterioration of the powers of concentration, like florescent lights, bad architecture, invasive marketing and ubiquitous plastic[32]
- frays the soul;[32] “slightly deadening”[33]
- substitutes power for pleasure, making us narcissistic and power-driven[29]
Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mailer 2003, p. 70.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hitchens 1997, p. 117.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 127.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 121.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 50, 52.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 51–52, 57.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 53.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 108–109.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 85.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 15.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 115.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 116.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 19.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Hitchens 1997, p. 126.
- ↑ Brady 2018.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 16.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 16–17.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 71.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Mailer 2003, p. 110.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 106.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Mailer 2003, p. 108.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 104.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 48.
- ↑ Treneman 2001.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 120.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Binelli 2007, p. 69.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Mailer 2003, p. 46.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 89–91.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Mailer 2003, p. 92.
- ↑ Rolling Stone, December 30, 1999, p. 110.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 88–89.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Mailer 2003, p. 91.
- ↑ Binelli 2007, p. 70.
Working Bibliography
- Baumann, Paul (March 23, 2016). "Mailer on Trump". Commonweal. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- Begiebing, Robert (2020). "Norman Mailer and Joseph Ellis: Unsettling Dialogues on Democracy". The Mailer Review. 12 (1).
- Binelli, Mark (May 2007). "Norman Mailer". Rolling Stone. pp. 69, 72.
- Brady, Amy (March 22, 2018). "Why Norman Mailer Still Matters in 2018". Village Voice. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
- Busa, Christopher (1999). "Interview with Norman Mailer". Provincetown Arts. pp. 24–32. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
- Hitchens, Christopher (1997). "Norman Mailer: A Minority of One". New Left Review. 22 (March/April): 115–128.
- Mailer, Norman (2013). "Immodest Proposals". In Sipiora, Phillip. Mind of an Outlaw. New York: Random House.
- — (2003). Why Are We at War?. New York: Random House.
- Mailer, Norman; Mailer, John Buffalo (2006). The Big Empty. New York: Nation Books.
- McAfee, Andrew (October 23, 2019). "Technology Will Keep Us From Running Out of Stuff". Wired. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- "The Party". Rolling Stone. December 30, 1999. p. 110.
- Pritchard, William (November 24, 2016). "Stormin' Norman". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
- Sheed, Wilfred (1971). "Norman Mailer: Genius or Nothing". The Morning After: Selected Essays and Reviews. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 9–17.
- Treneman, Ann (September 13, 2001). "'Ruin more beautiful than the building'". Times. London. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- Wade, Francis (August 12, 2019). "Reading 'The Armies of the Night' in an Age of Youth Protest". LA Review of Books. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
