Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer was an American novelist and journalist known for ambitious, combative prose and an outsize public persona.

His work blurred fiction and nonfiction, pioneering New Journalism with books like *The Armies of the Night* and *The Executioner's Song*.

Mailer courted controversy throughout his career—through literary feuds, political provocations, and turbulent personal life—becoming as famous for being Norman Mailer as for anything he wrote.

author

novelist

Writer of prose narratives

essayistAuthor of short prose
biographerOne who writes lives
journalistNews profession practitioner

screenwriter · playwright · Pulitzer Prize · literary · nonfiction · prose · American literature · postwar · Brooklyn · Harvard

journalist

Esquire

American men's lifestyle publication

Village VoiceNew York alternative weekly
reportingConveying documented information
editorialPublication's official viewpoint article

nonfiction · political · convention · Vietnam · counterculture · commentary · essay · opinion · media · investigative

provocateur

controversial

Causing public dispute

combativeInclined toward conflict
pugnaciousInclined to quarrel
iconoclastAttacker of cherished beliefs

maverick · firebrand · polemicist · ego · machismo · confrontational · public intellectual · feuds · debates · Gore Vidal

themes

masculinity

Male gender characteristics

violenceHarmful physical force
powerEnergy transfer rate
sexualityErotic nature and preferences

war · America · politics · existentialism · ego · ambition · boxing · machismo · counterculture · radicalism

Norman Mailer

novelist

Esquire

controversial

masculinity

Norman Mailer

Opposites

Categories

Family