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Norman Mailer: 50 Years of Writing

© Robert Powers

Norman Mailer marks his 50th anniversary in publishing this year as he reaches the age of 75. Such anniversaries call for an assessment of this writer and his contribution to the art. All his career, Mailer has delighted in creating controversy.

With the arrogance and combativeness so common to those of small stature physically, Mailer continues to thumb his nose at the world while churning out an exhausting array of books. His value as an author continues to be debated. Some critics believe he long ago did his best work, especially in non-fiction. His book about the Washington peace demonstrations of the late '60s, The Armies of the Night, created a sensation as Mailer wrote with fire and brimstone about his experiences while protesting government actions in Vietnam. Later, he gave a similar fiery treatment to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, that pivotal Chicago event that changed Americans' attitudes toward the war, in Miami and the Siege of Chicago. His book about moon exploration, Of a Fire on the Moon, came next, in 1970.

Mailer first created a sensation a half-century ago with The Naked and The Dead, credited as the first novel to honestly describe war. One of my personal favorites was his arrogant, self-centered Advertisements for Myself, a collection of short stories and essays that demanded attention.

In celebration of Mailer's anniversary, Random House has published a gigantic collection of excerpts from his work down through the years. The Time of Our Time ($39.50) contains 1,287 pages of the Mailer product, published in a handsome, signed first edition. In his introduction, Mailer sees his work as offering "its marrow to all the years in which so many of use have met as friends and antagonists, as fools and philosophers, witnesses and protagonists, alive in our actions and upon occasion rich in our power to meditate upon the perversities and wonders of our world, our arena."

Mailer's career as a writer has been filled with spectacles, wonderments, and disappointments. When An American Dream, his jarring novel from 1963, was first published, I read it with a sharp sense of astonishment. For those more innocent times, the book shocked, being filled with images disturbing, distressing, yet completely fascinating, somewhat akin to a smashup on the highway, upsetting even though you're unable to turn your eyes away.

His 1979 book, The Executioner's Song, gave a compelling look into the minds of killer Gary Gilmore and his lover Nicole. Made into an extraordinary film shown on TV, this book drew upon Mailer's considerable technique as a novelist to provide sharp insights into real-life characters. It's one of the highlights of his massive outpouring of words, images and thoughts.