When I decided to be a journalism major, my mom was not very surprised. She'd told me several times that writers have a unique way of looking at life. She said, they don't look for the obvious in a situation, the look for the interesting that's standing off to the left of the situation. I was always noticing the weird things. I was doomed to be a starving writer from the age of 5. Maybe I'm biased -- alright, I am -- but great writers are few and far between. It's a loss to literature to lose one like Norman Mailer. He had a way of picking up the untold story, that interesting or weird thing and turning into something fascinating.
His last book, The Castle in the Forest, is the story of Hitler before he became HITLER when he was just a child like any other child -- and a product of incest.
Here, I promise you, he would hold up his hand in precisely that little gesture Hitler used to employ—one prissy flip of the wrist. It was Heinrich's way of saying: "Now comes the meat. And with it—the potatoes!" Off he would go on a peroration. "Yes," he would say, "incest! This is one very good reason that old peasants are devout. An acute fear of the sinful is bound to display itself by one of two extremes: Absolute devotion to religious practice. Or nihilism. I can recall from my student days that the Marxist Friedrich Engels once wrote, 'When the Catholic Church decided adultery was impossible to prevent, they made divorce impossible to obtain.'
I haven't read his latest tome, but it's on my list. I'll wait a bit, the same way you save the last bit of Carmel Sutra from Ben and Jerry's -- because it's the last.
I've always wondered what it's like for writers in Heaven. Other people might be happy with endless buffets, never gaining weight, the freedom from sorrow and grief, bountiful joy and love. But writers can never go too long without the feel of a pen in hand, or the blinking cursor on the screen.
So I wonder if Heaven includes the most well-stocked haven with the William Faulkner edition of the Montblanc pen, the softest moleskin and a silver-cased Mac iBook just waiting for the first word of the perfect novel.
The obvious answer is yes. It is, after all, Heaven!
4 comments:
Figures you'd like the Faulkner. It's ribbed for her pleasure.
I strongly feel that pcs have more powerful word processing apps than macs have. Norman Mailer wouldn't give a crap about layout.
And, you know, sorry for your loss.
8^)
I actually hate Faulkner, but he is a classic. And that pen lists for $499 so it won't be appearing in my stocking this year for Christmas.
And stick your PC up your ass. I will always like the MAC better. Mailer was a pen and ink kinda guy anyway so his opinion doesn't count.
But thanks for taking the time to share!!
Jebus, woman, I was only talking about the pen.
You mac people are so sensitive and intolerant. But I accept that about you.
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