God, The Devil---And Norman Mailer

Gilmore’s death row execution, Mailer had delivered his big book.

jscotchie@antonmediagroup.com

(This is part 2, for part 1 please visit LongIslandWeekly.com)

Th roughout the 1970s, Norman Mailer kept the literary world guessing.

He published one nonfiction tome after another. Still the man wanted to be accepted as a novelist. For years, he promised a great novel about ancient Egypt, one which “Dostoyevsky and Marx; Joyce and Freud; Stendhal, Tolstoy, Proust, and Spengler; Faulkner, and even old moldering Hemingway, might come to read.’’

It worked. The man had a talent for publicity. Ancient Evenings was published in 1983 to high national and international advance sales figures. It was another best seller, but not a critical success. Saul Bellow, Mailer’s great rival, dismissed it as “Marquis de Sade for mummies.” Reviews were generally negative.

In truth, with 1979’s The Executioner’s Song, a non-fiction account of Gary

A fixture on the talk show circuit, Mailer began spending more time in Provincetown, MASS, working on thick novels rather than covering topical events. The man’s image was also badly tarnished by his support for Jack Abbott, a longtime convict whose writings impressed Mailer. Abbott was eventually released from prison, only to commit homicide again. Mailer played no role in Abbott’s release, and he had second thoughts about the prisoner, still the torrent of criticism was overwhelming.

The later Mailer included a thriller, Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1985), which was later made into a movie, biographies of Pablo Picasso, Lee Harvey Oswald’s life in Russia, a big CIA novel, Harlot’s Ghost, and the beginnings of a series of novels on Adolf Hitler, only one of which, The Castle In The Garden (2007) was completed before the novelists passing.

I’ll pick out two more books from later Mailer: The Gospel According To The Son and God: An Uncommon Conversation

The former novel, published in 1997 had its genesis when Mailer, on a book tour, discovered the ubiquitous Gideon’s Bible in his hotel room. The man started the New Testament and declared that he could “do better.” (Mailer’s humor was a saving grace.)

And so, a new novel. The Gospel revealed a different side of Norman Mailer: More searching and far less angry and urgent from earlier volumes. The novel came and went. The New Republic published a cover story depicting the novelist on a cross of his own, adding that “he is finished.” Some time later, Mailer ran into Martin Peretz, the magazine’s publisher, at a Provincetown restaurant. The unsuspecting Peretz was greeted by the senior citizen Mailer with a right cross to the face.

The Gospel is a first-person narrative where an apprehensive young Jesus grows into his ministry. It closes with Jesus finding strength from the struggles of the poor. Their hope reinvigorates Jesus. All of this can be discerned from a reading of the Bible and Mailer, vanity aside, does stay true to the Biblical text.

This interpretation dovetails with Mailer’s final book, a monologue conducted with his friend and archivist, J. Michael Lennon. In On God, Mailer announces that he felt “no attachment, whatsoever, to organized religion,” viewing God as “the greatest artist” with human beings as His greatest creation.

Mailer does praise Jesus’ ministry: “The beauty of Christ---what Christ was saying to all of us---is that the poor have as much reason to exist as the wealthy.”

Then there is God---and the eternal struggle with the Devil. Mailer never underestimates the Devil. The struggle with the latter is central to Mailer’s work. In this respect, the unsatisfactory endings of An American Dream (1965) and Tough Guys Don’t Dance come into better focus. Sometime, the Devil does win.

And not just over fictional characters, but all of humanity. The man once considered a conversion to Catholicism. However, Mailer rejected an omnipresent God. The Devil might just not be winning; he could deliver a decisive final victory over his enemy. God could lose altogether. This, the priest agreed, would not make Mailer a candidate for the Roman church.

In The Gospel, Mailer had Jesus make references to a remnant. Nothing is ever lost entirely. My re-reading of On God did not reveal that belief. A believer keeps faith in a remnant. Mailer might have been served better by reading the columnist

Joe Sobran: Part of this world is going to hell, part of it, however, is going to heaven, or at least as much as heaven allows in this world.

Mailer was an American author. He grew up in a nation that considered itself Christian and that---Depression or no Depression---remained innocent over its past and confident for the future. Mailer certainly would have agreed with Bellow in Mr. Sammler’s Planet (1970), where the latter has Artur Sammler as being “annoyed with Anglo-Saxon America for not keeping better order.” And only consider this dialogue in Esquire with Patrick J. Buchanan during Mailer’s 1996 profile of the presidential candidate.

MAILER: Becoming a Democrat opens up something extraordinary…One of the ironies besetting the Democratic Party now is that this country is a Christian country----not a Judeo-Christian country, but a Christian country first and foremost.

BUCHANAN (laughing): That puts you in trouble, Norman!

MAILER (laughing): Being Jewish, I probably can afford to say it’s a Christian country. One small advantage to being Jewish! But here’s my point: The average Democratic congressman who dares to invoke the name of Jesus Christ is doomed!

It was a meeting between two authentic giants: Two prolific authors who were under siege their entire careers, but still managed to maintain a sense of humor. America as a Christian nation? Mailer’s opposition to both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars was based on a belief that the United States was violating Christian morality by not just waging war against nations that could never harm America, but also in the way those wars were prosecuted.

Mailer remained a Jew. Still, America as anything less than a Christian country, made, I believe, no sense to him.

Word Find

HOROSCOPES By

HOROSCOPES By

HOROSCOPES By Holiday Mathis

This is a theme puzzle with the subject stated below. Find the listed words in the grid. (They may run in any direction always in a straight line. Some letters are used more than once.) Ring each word as you find it and when you have pleted the puzzle, there will be 25 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

Holiday Mathis

Holiday Mathis

ARIES (March 21-April 19). More than one occasion of the week will demand your attendance. You may not feel up to the challenge at rst, but the rewards of being there (or the consequences of not being there) will have far-reaching e ects. It doesn’t matter if you drag yourself to it or rise to it -- as long as you show up, you win.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You’re an excellent steward of bounty, which is why you keep attracting more of it. You’ll accept all gifts with a gracious smile, knowing it’s the feeling between people that matters the most. Don’t worry too much about what happens next. You can’t hold onto everything. What you don’t keep, you’ll distribute well.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). ough it’s said there are “no dumb questions,” there are de nitely questions that get you closer or further away from learning what you’re interested in. Some queries lead to happiness and awakening, while others bring on anxiety. Improvements happen this week because you ask so well.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You don’t wait for the right time to project magnetism and heart. Any old time is good enough for you, especially when you feel as happy as you do this week. A breakthrough in your personal life will make you feel you can nally move forward. Someone falls in love with your smile, then you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You want to give freely, but you can only give as freely as you feel. e opportunities for fun probably won’t drop into your world this week, and that’s actually a good thing because it’s a chance to create your fun just the way you like it. Whatever you do to ll yourself with joy will contribute to the generosity of spirit you spill into the world.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). A focus on smooth routines and improvements in your realm could be interrupted by an ask. Stand back and assess the situation from as many angles as you can to determine if you can help, and if so, what level of involvement would be most bene cial to all. Justice will win in the end, though it’s not always up to you to deliver it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). When you’re trying out a new endeavor, it can be hard to know what sort of goals are reasonable. Don’t be too eager to set your aim. Enjoy the stage of playful curiosity this week. It’s enough to get a feel for what an activity is like and how it matches up with your skills.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). ere’s a time and place for making comparisons. e time is hardly ever. e place is on a spreadsheet, not a social media platform. Let this week be all about you, your interests and your personal growth. ere’s too much to enjoy about who you are to waste one second thinking about who you aren’t.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). While you do feel more secure when you know your nances are in order, money is neither your only source of stability nor is it your most important one. It’s your relationships and other accomplishments that give you a real sense of your ability to connect and make things happen in your world.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Because there are people around you who could be committed to your growth and well-being, it makes no sense to spend all your energy on those who can only take and never give. Sel essness is an important aspect of good character, but it is not sustainable to have this as your mode too much of the time.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). To look into another person’s eyes and try very hard to understand what that person feels and needs is no small act. Your brand of attention is something special and rare. You teach just by being you. As you pick up the subtle dynamics of a situation, you’ll help others around you to do the same.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’re a con dent tastemaker. You don’t pander to what people want; you give them strong options instead. You know that having more choices doesn’t make people happier and in fact can lead to confusion, decision fatigue and buyer’s remorse. e optimal number of options to o er is three.

THIS WEEK’S BIRTHDAYS

is year is a power-up for your mind. In the months to come, you’ll re ne your strategies for nding the most useful and enjoyable ways to experience life. Loved ones bond in projects; lines of communication and positive feeling open up. A purchase will give a di erent structure to your days as you’re bus y shepherding a deal or maintaining property and possessions. An amazing discovery has to do with family origin and shared futures.

COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM

International Word Find

International Word Find

International Word Find

South of Sydney

Solution: 25 Letters

Word Find

This is a theme puzzle with the subject stated below. Find the listed words in the grid. (They may run in any direction but always in a straight line. Some letters are used more than once.) Ring each word as you find it and when you have completed the puzzle, there will be 25 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

South of Sydney

Bait Bars

Bathe Bays

Bega Berry

Boats

Bombo Broulee Bunga Bush Calm

Capes Care Clean Cold Cool Currarong Eden Fish Golf Growth Jobs Kiah

Kioloa Lagoon Lake Mogo Nature Nowra Outing Paddock Pambula Ports Red Pt. Rest

Sapphire Coast Steelworks Sunny Surf Swim Tans Unit Valley Whales Wonboyn

FROM KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, 300 W. 57th STREET, 41st FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10019

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Solution: Marvel at Grand Pacific Drive

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CONTRACT BRIDGE — BY STEVE BECKER FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023

737 3rd Street • Hermosa

Contract Bridge

A critical choice

king.

Date: 5/17/23

By Steve Becker

It’s obvious that the king is the winning play if you can see all 52 cards, but what is the right play if you see only 26 cards? If declarer has, say, the A-5 of spades, the proper play is the ten, which limits South to just one spade trick. But if South has only the J-5, the proper play is the king.

Making the right decision in the present case is not simply a matter of guesswork. As usual, there are clues to guide you to the solution. To begin with, you should apply the Rule of Eleven. You deduct the card West led, the six, from 11, which tells you that there are five cards higher than the six in the North, East and South hands.

The backbone of good card play is the ability to diagnose how the unseen cards are divided. This does not mean that to succeed, a player must ascertain the location of every critical missing card. Sometimes, it might be sufficient to know only where one card is located.

For example, assume you hold the East cards in this deal. West leads the six of spades against three notrump, and dummy follows low. This presents you with the problem of whether to play the ten or the

Since one of the five higher cards is in dummy and you can see three of them in your own hand, you know that South has only one card higher than the six. It is easy to deduce that it cannot be the ace, because in that case South would surely have played the queen from dummy to give himself a chance to win two tricks in the suit instead of one.

So you put up the king and return a spade, hoping partner started with five to the ace, and you wind up setting the contract one trick.

Weekly Sudoku Puzzle

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.

Answer to last issue’s Sudoku Puzzle

Answer to last issue’s Crossword Puzzle

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Oh most beautiful ower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, blessed mother of the son of God. Immaculate virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh star of the sea, help me and show me here you are zmy mother. Oh Holy Mary, mother of God, queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me into my necessity. (Make request). There are none that can withstand your power. Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (three times). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hand (three times). Say this Prayer three consecutive days. Then you must publish it and it will be granted to you.

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