Norman Mailer: The American
September 30th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Norman Mailer was one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century. Unlike those who acquired fame through the glorification of war, Mailer presented it as the greatest failure of humanity.
A vocal critic of US neconservatives and the Bush Administration, Mailer wrote this in “The White Man Unburdened” just months after the US invasion of Iraq.
No, we will rise no higher than the spiritual understanding of our leadership. And now that the ardor of victory has begun to cool, some will see how it is flawed. For we are victim once again of all those advertising sciences that depend on mendacity and manipulation. We have been gulled about the real reasons for this war, tweaked and poked by some of the best button-pushers around to believe that we won a noble and necessary contest when, in fact, the opponent was a hollowed-out palooka whose monstrosities were ebbing into old age.
As usual, Mailer was ahead of his time. The clip above is the trailer for Joseph Mantegna’s new documentary on Mailer which is currently screening at film festivals.
