The Jewish Chronicle
On this day: Norman Mailer is born
January 31 1923: A giant of literature
January 31, 2011 14:08
January 31 1923: A giant of literature
January 31, 2011 14:08In the canon of influential Jewish writers of the last century, Normal Mailer is up there with the likes of Phillip Roth.
The author of The Armies of the Night, The Executioner's Song and The Castle in the Forest, a man who managed to infuriate feminists in almost everything he did, feuded with Gore Vidal and once ran for the job of mayor of New York, Mailer will certainly go down as one of the greats of literary history.
Born to a middle-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, he went to Harvard at just 16, then fought in the Philippines during the Second World War. His first novel, The Naked and the Dead, was published in 1948. Critically acclaimed, it brought him instant fame.
He wrote more than 40 books – fiction and non-fiction - as well as magazine essays and screenplays. Twice he was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, in 1968 he won the National Book Award.
