The Cinema of Norman Mailer: Film is Like Death

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The Cinema of Norman Mailer: Film is Like Death not only examines the enfant terrible writers thoughts on cinema, but also features interviews with Norman Mailer himself. The Cinema of Norman Mailer also explores Mailer's cinema through previously published and newly commissioned essays written by an array of film and literary scholars, enthusiasts, and those with a personal, philosophical connection to Mailer. This volume discusses the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and filmmaker's six films created during the years of 1947 and 1987, and contends to show how Mailer's films can be best read as cinematic delineations that visually represent many of the writer's metaphysical and ontological concerns and ideas that appear in his texts from the 1950s until his passing in 2007. By re-examining Mailer's cinema through these new perspectives, one may be awarded not just a deeper understanding of Mailer's desire to make films, but also find a new, alternative vision of Mailer himself. Norman Mailer was not just a writer, but more: he was one of the most influential Postmodern artists of the twentieth century with deep roots in the cinema. He allowed the cinema to not only influence his aesthetic approach, but sanctioned it as his easiest-crafted analogy for exploring sociological imagination in his writing. Mailer once suggested, "Film is legitimately more interesting than books..." and with that in mind, readers of Norman Mailer might begin to rethink his oeuvre through the viewfinder of the film medium, as he was equally as passionate about working within cinema as he was about literature itself.

Reviews

You can bet there will never be another book on the films of Norman Mailer. This always intelligent look back at the despised movie career of this famously talented writer is made all the more astonishing by the collected essays' honesty, respect and attempt at historical context. Reading about these movies is way more fun than actually seeing them and even Norman might agree. * John Waters, Director and Screenwriter, USA *
Bozungs collection represents a major advance in our understanding of Mailers filmstheir origins, creation, reception, relationship to his literary work, and enduring influence. His assiduous archival work, communication with almost everyone alive involved with Mailers filmmaking, the collection of previously published essays (including Mailers), and the commissioning of new ones, plus an extraordinary collection of photographs, makes The Cinema of Norman Mailer the definitive volume on Mailers film career. * J. Michael Lennon, author of Norman Mailer: A Double Life (2013) and Emeritus Professor of English, Wilkes University, USA *
Because of this thorough, eclectic, and nuanced text, I now feel as if I could do a better job teaching Mailer as a filmmaker and communicate a more critical and contextualized understanding of Mailer's process and product. Now, after reading this comprehensive collection of memoirs, essays, and interviewsone that, I might add, will appeal to the enthusiast as well as undergraduate and graduate studentsI feel as if I actually might be able to do Mailer justice as a filmmaker in the classroom. Now, instead of thinking about Mailer as a writer who pushed the boundaries of all the genres he worked in, thanks to Bozung's collection, I have a broader understanding of Norman Mailer and his cultural legacy. * Norman Mailer Review *

Author Bio

Justin Bozung is a researcher, writer, and part-time archivist, residing in Georgia, USA. He was a featured contributor at Shock Cinema and Videoscope magazines from 2010 to 2014. He has contributed to two books about Stanley Kubrick: 2001: The Lost Science (2013) and Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubricks The Shining (2015). Bozung serves on the board of the Norman Mailer Society and lectures about Mailer's films.