Norman Mailer died on Nov. 10 in Manhattan. The monolith of 20th century American literature did not depart unaccomplished. With an ego larger than his ears, quite a feat, Mailer fearlessly delved into realms of written word previously undreamt of.

Upon his return from the Pacific, Mailer at 25 crafted what is widely hailed as the greatest American war novel, “The Naked and the Dead,” a semi-autobiographical epic about his World War II experience.

“The Naked and the Dead” awarded Mailer with sales success on a massive scale. But for Mailer, the notoriety and acclaim was far more valuable than any monetary sum.

“For anyone who’s become an author early and has had a good deal of success…it’s not automatic or easy afterward to look upon other people with a simple interest, because generally speaking they’re more interested in us than we are in them,” Mailer said.

He surrounded himself with intellectuals, authors, socialites and artists. Mailer’s self-admiration was warranted and, arguably, the core of his essence.

Branded a murderer, chauvinist, and nihilist, Mailer fought the society he saw as flawed.

He wrote many essays on the state of the nation and current affairs, taking controversial stances not for the sake of rebellion, but because activism, dissent and contradiction were his idea of an antidote.

Mailer was the contrarian who made recalcitrance and individuality cool and right. His close friend and author Gore Vidal said, “He is a man whose faults, though many, add to rather than subtract from the sum of his natural achievements.”

Mailer was unsure of himself while confidently telling the world he was correct.

The boundaries of genre and “art” were trampled when Mailer attacked them. In “Armies of the Night” Mailer wrote a “non-fiction” and historic account of the anti-war movement during Vietnam, including himself as one of the main characters, writing in third person.

Mailer doubted himself with his chest stuck out, “Part of me thought it [Naked and Dead] was possibly the greatest book written since ‘War and Peace.’ On the other hand I also thought, ‘I don’t know anything about writing. I’m virtually an impostor.’ ”

Norman struggled with the ever-looming yearn to write the definitive great American novel. Now that he is gone some say he never got around to it. The Brooklyn brawler swung for the fences, not out of anxiety or to prove self-worth.

“Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and never get an answer.”

Columnist: Sam Gendell - 12/05/07