Mailer Sticks to Guns At Talk

Norman K. Mailer ’43, one of the world’s most eccentric and widely acclaimed authors, might have required two canes to walk into First Church in Cambridge last Thursday, but once he began to speak, he needed no one’s aid to keep the audience mesmerized.

Though ostensibly there to speak about his new novel, “The Castle in the Forest,” the two-time Pulitzer winner weighed in on everything from Adolf Hitler’s genitalia and Hillary Clinton’s buttocks to the Iraq War and George W. Bush. Throughout the event, he never shied away from controversial claims and even went so far as literally asking the audience to confront him.

GENITALS AND FOREIGN POLICY

Sitting in an overstuffed chair, wearing a black fleece vest with a purple sport shirt underneath, Mailer could have been, on first glance, someone’s little old grandpa. But as soon as he began to speak, the notion of an innocent grandpa quickly disappeared.

When speaking of his newest book, a fictional treatment of Hitler’s childhood, he referred to the dictator as “the opposite to Jesus” and touted the historical accuracy of the book.

He also defended his choice to depict a very literal set of hellish demons as prime movers in Hitler’s life. “This would not be a novel at all if the devil were not at the center of it,” he said.

“The Castle in the Forest” is the first work released by Mailer since “The Gospel According to the Son” in 1997. There has been a lot of speculation about the reason for the long wait, but Mailer said it was merely the voluminous research, not age, and he spoke at length about such research.

For exsample, a significant portion of Mailer’s speech focused on the issue of Hitler’s genitals—namely, his reputed lack of a testicle. Mailer’s idea for this affliction of Hitler derived from a popular World War II British marching song and from Hitler’s particular way of standing.

“He was always protecting his genitals with his hand,” Mailer said.

Mailer also defended his accusation that Hitler was born of an incestuous relationship between his father and his father’s niece (who was also his father’s wife)—the source of this peculiar genital problem, according to Mailer.

Never one to shy away from controversy, Mailer, who was famously arrested in 1967 for his role in demonstrations against the Vietnam War, answered many questions on the Iraq war. He had harsh words for members of the Bush administration such as Karl Rove and the commander-in-chief, himself.

“George Bush is a small man,” Mailer said.

INVITATION TO CONTROVERSY

The theology that appears in “The Castle in the Forest” raised questions on the nature of God from the audience, and Mailer did not flinch from asserting his beliefs.

“God is a creator who could succeed or fail,” Mailer said. “We are God’s vision.” However, he added that we posses full agency to direct this vision.

Indeed, Mailer literally tried to incite controversy. Near the end of the event, he requested that the audience ask him a rude question. Subsequently, he was confronted by a woman about his controversial relationship with women. Mailer has been severely criticized for the sexual violence in his work and his serial monogamy (he has had six wives, one of whom he stabbed with a penknife).

“I’m innocent,” he said. “Among the injustices of the feminine revolution—along with the achievements—I am one of the smaller ones.”

Mailer ended his speech with a much less controversial topic, and one, if his numerous novels say anything, that is much closer to his heart: the purpose of literature.

“Fiction creates a structure that is luminous and useful to the mind,” he said, adding that it allows one to more clearly perceive the reality of the world. And with that he began to sign the title pages of “The Castle in the Woods” for the long line of his admirers.