Norman Mailer interviewed by Martin Amis, 1991. (1 of 4)

[zachromero]

I like many of Mailers stances but what he misses completely is that the infrastructure of the USSR was crumbling because it couldn't keep up with the nuclear arms race.

[mlawren7]

@zachromero Actually Mailer has made that point specifically: "The Soviet Union didn't fail at all, we deliberately bankrupted it."

[deniskany]

I'm fascinated by the negative comments posted to this interview. Both Mailer and Amis write remarkable prose and are, whether you agree with them or not, unfailingly smart, entertaining public intellectuals. Are those commentors who posted ad hominum attacks here able to approximate these acheivements? Or are they intimidated and, therefore, boorish and antiintellectual?

[thunderbirdscarlett]

MY MOMMA SAYS OBAMA!

[lovesGenet]

Only in a civilized country would Mia have his own show. what happened to our senses in the U.S. It's all payed for .We have a fractured culture and so few ways to get it the real important voices and info.The internet like 9/11 has allowed power to further its grasp over America n mediocrity .We are not producing much an index for the ends of nations.

[KellyGreen5555]

Martin Amis is such a prat.

[Avicenna9]

Right wing, reactionary, racist, Islamophobic superficial, lightweight faux-author. Can you guess who I'm talking about?

[smurfieboo]

@Avicenna9 don't hold back next time.

[Avicenna9]

In retrospect, I see I missed out Preening, obnoxious, self absorbed, over-rated purveyer of recycled toilet paper.

[Avicenna9]

For the uninitiated, I should point out that I'm talking about Martin Anus.

[ZThurl]

What do YOU mean by "Islamophobic"?

[fasteddief]

@Avicenna9 what an affected, clumsy insult. Talk about exposing your hand.

[billycarr]

I like Mailer but I don't like Mailer.

[Hapworth1924]

i know exactly what you mean

[sillonnelenet]

A douche who interviews a douche.

[dirtycelinefrenchman]

@sillonnelenet watched and commented on by a douche.

[sillonnelenet]

@dirtycelinefrenchman OH GOT ME WITH MY OWN JOKE I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE LOL

[panacea999]

"Harlot's Ghost" is a brilliant book.

[Bambikino]

What Mailer says about liberalism reminds me of H.L. Mencken's quote: "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it."

[greatsea]

well from an objective standpoint the # of great minds that are jewish is improportionately high. when you have the stubborn facts of jewish history staring at you it is hard to proceed without being seduced into one disposition towards them or another. disdain or infatuation.

[socratic1968]

"from an objective standpont...." The average IQ of Israelis is quite low actually. The greatest minds are decidely NOT jewish. Biology-Darwin. Psychology-Jung Physics-Heisenberg Author- James Joyce Painter/scultpor-too many. Michelangelo The greatest cultures....NONE jewish. The greatest mind hands down of the 20th century was Joseph Campbell. NOT A JEW BUT, the greatest wall street thieves EVER? I think you know.

[jerryhello100]

Are you kidding me?

How about:

Physics-Einstein

Psychology-Freud

Author- Noam Chomsky, or Norman Mailer

And Great Culture-Hollywood, an enormous proportion of actors and comedians are jewish.

I'm anti-zionist too, but by recognizing the Jewish contribution to our culture, we in no way propagate 'Jewish tribalism', to use your phrase.

You are quite the crypto-nazi.

[jerryhello100]

It comes across very harsh indeed. I'm sorry but every time someone says that there are no great jewish minds, and insult them so ruthlessly, the word nazi jumps to mind.

I don't think that jewishness had anything to do with mistakes on wall street, nor does it have to do with jewish achievement . It doesn't matter what race or religious background someone has, what matters is what they do. The individual should be held responsible not the people. Socrates would be ashamed of you.

[PatrickWhite1985]

@jerryhello100 You would have to be totally ignorant of intellectual history and/or completely insane to argue that their are no great Jewish minds -- e.g. Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Franz Kafka, Gary Kasparov, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, John Von Neuman, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marvin Minsky, Isaac Asimov...the list goes on.

[haret0n]

here in new zealand there is no jewish issue. we are away from the rest of the world and have a small (unnoticed) jewish community. one of the things i like about being so far away is that it takes the heat out of things. jewish people are just people in all their multiplicity. israel is a problem - anything that leads to war isn't good. but there's no point in personalising it. that's about it really.

[hammer231984]

It must be nice to pretend that everything is okay because it appears that way in front of your eyes.

Zionists are brutalizing Palestinians daily, half the world away. That makes it no less real.

Put your head back in the sand, you south Pacific trash can.

[ZachClooney]

Thanks for uploading this gem of 2 of the greatest writers of all time!

[ElFrankus]

I think Norman is probably the most important / relevant american writer of the second part of the 20th century..

I also like Kurt Vonnegut a lot.. ;- )

[bellinivernon]

.Exelente ; gracias ,desde argentina.

[Rasscoco]

Norman Mailer is a giant who is interviewd by a literary meaget.

[klimes86]

This is wonderful. Two roaring intellectuals and writers.

[100110]

This is just brilliant.

[flymogram]

I've not seen Martin Amis interview anyone before. He's very good at it.

[54321pbs]

That's why he has the right to give lousy interviewers a hard time. :)

[Tlk2435asdko43]

he's right about the cold war exaggeration.

[ElFrankus]

Yes, as the USSR was basically a third world country...(ok, 2nd world country) with nuclear weapons, ok, but they weren´t crazy as to launch them..

[stephentyler1]

Harlot's Ghost -discussed here- is a great novel that, though it finally sinks under its own colossal weight (well, so does Paradise Lost), will probably come to be regarded as Mailer's greatest work. The first hundred pages (i.e. the framing Omega section) are probably the best hundred pages in American literature since the last hundred pages of Moby Dick.

[MrtvaPriroda]

those are some words..I have to check those 100 pages so I'll tell you, thou you r facing here many great pages confronting Mailer...but ok, we'll c...

[Maccadads2]

Fantastic. Both Amis and Mailer seem in top tv form here.

[fingersjones]

excellent stuff - thnks for uploading