‘“The White Negro” adumbrates practically everything that went wrong with American society under the assault of left-wing radicalism in the 1960s, from the addiction to violence, drugs, pop music, and sexual polymorphism, to the moral idiocy, jejune anti-Americanism, and mindless glorification of narcissistic irresponsibility and extreme states of experience. It was, as David Horowitz notes in his autobiography Radical Son, “the seminal manifesto of New Left nihilism… . In New Left thinking, criminals were only ‘primitive rebels.’” Although many critics took issue with Mailer’s exoneration of violence, the real message of the essay—if it feels good, do it!—was just then beginning to sweep the country with irresistible force. “The White Negro,” along with some of Mailer’s other essays from the late 1950s, represented an important opening salvo in the war on convention, restraint, and traditional morality. This, not his literary accomplishment, was the ultimate secret of Mailer’s broad appeal. Mailer, as Joseph Epstein observed, “was one of the key men responsible for releasing the Dionysian strain in American life.” He promised his readers what they longed to hear: that ultimate, self-centered ecstasy was theirs for the taking. Mailer once said that he would “settle for nothing less than making a revolution in the consciousness of our time.” He did not make the revolution, but he assuredly became one of its most egregious abettors.”
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I read it too, He definitely belongs on the shelf with Tim Leary, Hugh Hefner, William Burroghs and others who basically glorified bad behavior and consequence-free living.
The world would have been better off without him, but I must admit that I got a real kick out of reading “The Armies of the Night.”
It’s unintentionally funny. What a bunch of idiots.
his views work best if you smoke a lot of dope.
For a true measure of the man, I’d love to know more about the fate of his many children and grandchildren.
In works like ‘The Executioners Song’, which was engaging, he didn’t have to create characters, he was reporting on real people. Therefore they were automatically believable. He did, had or had done, fairly good research and did not have to invent details or people.
Let’s just say he was not inventive which is the first requirement of a good fiction writer.
But 90% of his writing is unendurable toxic waste.
Here’s a good blog on him: http://www.bloggernews.net/111608
So he is a good commie now?
The left were downright giddy when Jerry Falwell died, and that was disrespectful, too.
Words of criticism have their place, of course, but not immediately following the death of a celebrity.
“...Which means?...”
That Mailer was making it up as he went along. ‘Theology in action’ is another form for ‘reality’ or ‘the real world’. These are the standard qualifyers used by people who don’t have the balls to accept The Word of God as it was handed down.
I was amongst the group not terribly impressed by Mailer. From an earlier thread:
It’s been a very long time since I even tried to read any Mailer. The last one I finished was his about the moon launch. It had enough behind the scenes information about the NASA culture and launch event to finish, but his method of making it all secondary to HIM, (ie-Aquarius) was pathetic. Not Armstrong, not NASA, not the moon itself, the only story he really was telling was Mailer. And wasn’t the world lucky NASA was created to provide him a mirror where he could look at himself.
“Ancient Evenings” I tried to read. I made it through about 60 pages before casting it aside. Gibberish from a man who seemed like he was being paid by the word and intended to cash in.
A pre-People magazine “celebrity”. If he hadn’t been such a celebrity he might actually have lived up to the role he imagined for himself. The books might then have been about the stories, instead of just fuel for his ego. I can’t imagine time will be kind to his work or reputation.
27 posted on 11/11/2007 12:36:35 AM PST by tlb