The Devil and Der Führer

Hitler in the Box by marguerita

Norman Mailer brings out the evil in all of us

and here words out from a Comment to this interview:
Mailer surprised me by his rationality, coherence and by sounding , fresh, bright, younger than his age. I would say he continues in his role of being a non- Jewish Jew and failing to use his enormous talent in any way to serve the Jewish people.

Interview by Nermeen Shaikh

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Norman Mailer died Saturday at the age of 84. Earlier this year, he spoke with Nextbook about his novel The Castle in the Forest. We rerun this conversation in his memory.

Norman Mailer

Over the course of his 60-year career, Norman Mailer has tackled some pretty controversial subjects—the life of Jesus Christ, the inner workings of the CIA, the final days of murderer Gary Gilmore—

as part of an ongoing effort to understand the nature of good and evil.

In his latest novel, The Castle in the Forest, he imagines the early life of the 20th century's foremost representative of evil, Adolf Hitler, as narrated by one of Satan's minions.
At 84, Mailer is as passionate and contrary as ever. He speaks with Nextbook about his interest in Hitler—which dates back to 1932, when he was but 9 years old—and about the drawbacks of our post-Enlightenment world view, which precludes a belief in the devil. He also traces his lineage as a writer and thinker, with nods to his butcher-scholar grandfather and E. M. Forster, among others.

Nermeen Shaikh works at the Asia Society in New York. A collection of her interviews is due out in December from Columbia University Press.

Julie Subrin is the producer of the Nextbook podcast.

http://www.nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=532&source=email
POSTED ON 11.12.07 IN: Books Audio History