Norman Mailer and the Modernist Turn

The study situates Norman Mailer in the tradition of Modernism, showing how he imbibed the worldview of a coterie of male modernist writers who imposed their notions of art and literature and politics on the movement. Mailer followed a specific ideological path, moving from a rejection of liberalism, technocracy and mass culture to a Gnostic vision. This study is a comprehensive scholarly treatment of Norman Mailer’s entire œuvre, including not only his fiction and non-fiction, but also his correspondence, his early journal articles and his interviews. It outlines Mailer’s Entwicklungsgeschichte, illuminating the lines of continuity and discontinuity in his literary achievement and shows Mailer’s work to be firmly ensconced in the tradition of Modernism and inspired by the Pound-Eliot axis. It argues that Mailer’s literary opus is intertwined with his worldview, which, despite its inconsistencies and contradictions, contains a systematic structure.