English Psychology
One of the giants among mid-20th century American novelists, NormanMailer has been described in a recent review of his latest book, The SpookyArt: Some Thoughts on Writing, as "Aquarius in winter," a not-so-gentleaging of his own 1960s' sobriquet, Aquarius. Mailer's big claim to famecame almost twenty years earlier, with publication of The Naked and theDead, arguably the best World War II novel written. (Jeffers, 2003) Ittells of heroism in the Pacific, and a return to the emerging 'fascist'state that was the foreshadowing of the McCarthy era of the 1950s. In thatsense, Mailer wrote from experiences in his own life. Certainly, thecontent of that book was influenced by his experience of the war and its In this current non-fiction book, Mailer admits in a roundabout waythat his art depended on his life. He offers tips on how to incorporate"real experience into the imaginary world of fiction ("For example, it'snot a good idea to try to put your wife into your novel. Not your latestwife, anyway." (Jeffers, 2003) Mailer also incorporated his own excesses,again in a roundabout way. He insists that writers should be on good terms
She finds, however, thatthe writers mentioned do not make that leap, but simply draw on theexperience of 'woman' to add domesticity to their novels. She doesn't give up the work, she says,because "You wouldn't want to give up a good job!" (Daly, 1997) She isreflecting the Ireland she grew up in, before the Celtic Tiger made it aneconomic power, when a bit of boiled beef was the best you'd get all week. Ireland's most popular novelist In the descent from novelists of enduring stature (even if one is aself-confessed drugged-out hulk and the other committed a poetic suicide)to the more popular voices above, perhaps one of today's most popularfemale novelists will shed more concrete light on the effect of living andpersonal psychology on the act and art of writing. (Johnson, 1994) Woolf herself wrote that her generation knew more about characterthan any previous one in world history. Jeffers says Mailer has no idea howmuch that is true. As an aside, however, Mailer's way of allowing life events to shapethe content of his work is not one most writers might want to emulate, atleast in Jeffers' view. One critic thought that in the book, Binchy was at her best"both as a novelist and teacher," perhaps emphasizing the interplay betweenher life and the subject matter of her work. That story describes transformation in the lives of eight Dublinersresulting form their work in a remarkable evening class: Binchy, respondingremarkably to her students and their families when she taught, was treatedby them to a trip to Israel, where she decided to stay three months workingon a kibbutz. "(Quoted by Jeffers, 2003) In addition, Woolf believed in the writers' roleas "receptacles" of cultural currents. Mailer himself says that his traffic with drugsand his messy personal life, although being some fodder for his fictionmill, impaired his rational powers. Maeve Binchy isIreland's most successful author, with books sales in the multiplemillions, but still writes a weekly column for The Irish Times, which shejoined in 1968 as a journalist. " (Johnson, 1994) Although a woman,Woolf's home life was arguably less restrictive than that of most of hercontemporaries, but perhaps that contribution was made in the fact that shewrote at all. Itis likely that her creative personal vision was influenced both directly(since she was aware of the principles) and indirectly by second wavepsychology affecting her imagination.
Common topics in this essay:
War II,
Tan Domesticity,
Bloomsbury Johnson,
Evening Class,
Quoted Jeffers,
Night Day,
Virginia Woolf,
Irish Times,
Binchy Ireland's,
Celtic Tiger,
jeffers 2003,
johnson 1994,
art writing,
virginia woolf,
wave psychology,
own life,
norman mailer,
evening class,
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Acceptance Essays
