Contents: Introduction chapter I american author norman mailer

CHAPTER II The image of the author in the novel by N. Mailer "An executioners song"
2.1. Norman Mailer is one of the greatest American writers
Norman Mailer is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Novelist and publicist, screenwriter and film director, public figure and international journalist - such is the many-sided sphere of Mailer's creative activity. The problems of most of his works are connected with the topical problems of American life and international politics.
One of the merits of N. Mailer is that he proposed new forms of narration, becoming one of the creators of the “new journalism” or “hybrid” works, as O.O. Nesmelov and Zh.G. Konovalov in the article "New Journalism: Theoretical Principles and Their Artistic Embodiment". The essence of the new artistic method boils down to the fact that "fiction tends to be publicistic, to factual reliability, and journalism borrows various techniques of fiction."
Mailer's novel Death of an Executioner (1979) has a subtitle stating that the story about the life and execution of killer Gary Gilmore, described in it, is real. And in the afterword, the author reports that the creation of the novel was preceded by trips to the American states of Utah and Oregon, where the described events took place, interviews with eyewitnesses, the study of documents and reports on court hearings.⁷
A work that combines documentary and fiction always has a great author's beginning. The novel by N. Mailer "The Death of an Executioner" is not an exception in this.
The purpose of this work: to trace how the image of the author is revealed in the novel "The Song of the Executioner" and what is the author's position in assessing the described event.
N. Mailer (1923-2007) was born and raised in the northeastern state of New Jersey. In 1943, the future writer graduated from Harvard University with a degree in aeronautical engineering, after which he served in World War II for more than two years. Meyler based his military experience on The Naked and the Dead, which was first published in 1948 and brought him literary fame. Thanks to this work, Meyler "joined the group of American prose writers who participated in World War II in the second half of the 1940s - early 1950s and remained faithful to the traditions of naturalistic and realistic writing in their art."
In his next two novels ("Barbarian Coast" and "Deer Reserve"), Meyler addresses issues that have been raised again and again throughout his life: the rejection of the spirituality, inertia, and rudeness of society . the modern writer, anti-bourgeois protest, left-liberal ideology combined with the pursuit of an existentialist image of the world and man. At that time, his political concept was being formed, which would soon lead him to journalism.
From now on, the work of the writer on works of art and journalistic texts will be closely linked. Its distinctive feature is that it reveals a single subject, the epitome of a kind of hero in a number of journalistic works and, consequently, in a fiction novel. For example, the type of hipster hero is revealed by the writer in political journalism in the late 1950s and 1960s (Presidential notes, self-promotion, collections of cannibals and Christians) and forms part of the basis of the hero’s character. The American Dream novel (1965). And the protagonist’s belief that “perception of magic, horror, and death” is the source of any motivation then runs like a red thread in many of Mailer’s works.
The political history of the United States has always interested the documentary Mailer. He has repeatedly commented on major political events, and has published publicist works directly on political issues. At one point, the writer himself ran for mayor of New York City. In addition to U.S. policy, he focused on the fight for civil rights, particularly those related to the Vietnam War. The worldview of the writer of this period is still contradictory, and in his works bright images and expressive stylistic means attract more attention.
It was during these years that the "new journalism" movement, led by theorist T. Wolf, was at its peak. This movement, which is characterized by a synthesis of documentary materials and fiction, has been fueled by the public’s distrust of publications in newspapers and magazines. Thus, it became clear that real life is no longer real. After T. Capote, the creator of the documentary novel, N. Mayler proposed a unique version of the documentary novel - "novel history, history - novel". Works written in this new genre (“Army of the Night: History as a Novel, Novel as History” and “Miami and the Chicago Siege”) were examples of a new feature documentary. The author was awarded the Meyler Pulitzer and National People’s Awards in 1967 for his “Night Army,” which depicted a march to the Pentagon.
In the novels of the last decades of the writer's work, the directions set by the writer in the 40s and 70s of the XX century have been preserved. At the same time, they follow the evolution of the writer’s creative style, the main features of which are the intensification of the synthesis of documentary and artistic principles, the harmony of elements of realism, modernism and postmodernism poetics. The author's novels of various genres: political, documentary-mythological, journalistic research novel, documentary-fiction, biographical and others.
As you can see, the author has had a bold experiment in forms and genres. In 1997, Meyler wrote a wonderful book, The Gospel of the Son of God, in which he described the life of Jesus in the form of an autobiography. The idea to create this book came to him when he realized how much ambiguity and exaggeration there was in it after attending Bible lessons. The decision was made - I will tell the story myself.
Not only did Mayler experiment with new literary forms and genres, but he also sought figurative and expressive means, so that his works could be used by a wide range of readers - from the elite to the general public.
After the release of The Executioner's Song in 1979, the New York Times called Norman Mailer America's greatest chronicler.
In this work, the writer explores the life path of the killer - the real person Gary Gilmore, who was executed in 1977. The creation of a documentary work of art was preceded by a huge amount of work - numerous interviews, the study of documents and reports on court hearings, trips to the American states of Utah and Oregon, where the events described in the novel took place. The writer talked with the mother of the killer - Bessie Gilmore, with his mistress - Nicole Baker, with friends and relatives of the killer, with judges and lawyers. Interviews that Mailer took with various people while working on the novel fit in fifteen thousand pages. "The novel is the story of nine months of Gary Gilmour's life, from the time he was released from prison on parole to the day of his execution on January 17, 1977."
The novel describes the sensational case of criminal Gary Gilmour, who was sentenced to life in prison and sought the death penalty. Mailer, relying on documents and eyewitness accounts and consistently telling about events, recreates a portrait of an extraordinary, passionate and full of energy personality, but obviously doomed to murder and subsequent own death.
The action of the novel "The Song of the Executioner" takes place in Utah, in the cities of Salt Lake City, Provo and Orem. Gary Gilmour was first convicted at the age of fourteen for car theft. For several years he was placed in a correctional labor colony (a school for juvenile delinquents). After the colony, he was already a "strong young man." Having settled with Mormon relatives, he leads the same way of life: he participates in fights, robberies, etc. Therefore, he was soon again convicted of two armed robberies and imprisoned in the Oregon state prison, and then transferred to the Illinois state prison, the conditions of which were more stringent.
When Gary Gilmore was released, he was already 35 years old. He got a job in a shoe store owned by his uncle Vern. Uncle and his assistant taught Gary how to fix shoes. Gary did not like the occupation, and he went to work in a workshop for the manufacture of crushers for crushing wood into pulp, used in pulp and paper production. The owner of the workshop, Spencer McGrath, was a kind man, noticing that Gary came to work on foot, he helped him buy a used car. In the house of the owner, Gary met Nicole Baker, with whom they soon began to live together.
This is how Gary Gilmour's life got better. But despite this, Gary did not give up his old habits - he was still engaged in robberies. So one night he took nine boxes of pistols out of the gun shop.
Gary was fond of alcohol, and for this reason there were frequent quarrels between him and Nicole. One day, unable to stand it, Nicole gathered her children (they were her children from previous marriages) and left for her mother, saying that she would no longer live with Gary. Arriving at Nicole's mother and not finding her there, Gary drove to a gas station and there he first robbed and then shot an employee. In the morning he, as if nothing had happened, came to work.
Already on the same evening, while continuing to look for Nicole, Gary shoots a pistol with a silencer at the owner of a small hotel and, taking the cash register, leaves. But when he tries to hide the gun in the bushes, he accidentally shoots himself in the arm. The testimony of witnesses who saw him leaving the hotel allowed the police to track down the criminal's car and arrest him. At the time of his arrest, Gilmour was read the so-called "Miranda" - the law on the rights of the arrested. Seeing Lieutenant Gerald Nielsen, whom Gary had previously heard about, drive up in a car, he stated that he would only talk with Nielsen and tell him everything.