Fascinating passage on love and power: amis: sexuality is woven into the book. Seduction. Power. Sexualty. They are intimately connected. mailer: well, aren't they? without the drive to power i think there'd be half as many children in the world. they came not out of love but from the urge either in a man or a woman to dominate each other -- and the form it took was sex. I'm not saying it's good or bad, and it might be bad for all I know, but power absolutely gets into sex. whom dominates whom is crucial to most sexual relationships, as opposed to some that are equal. when you're writing about nasty people i don't know how you can avoid writing about certain concepts of power. amis: is that the defining notion of men and women. that it is always a war? mailer: no, i think there's usually a war. and even when there isn't a war between men and women they really have to be always aware of the possibility of that war all the time... even when they love one another. Most of the time people who love each other or are close to one another nonetheless always have to watch out for that possibility of the war flicking up again. it has roots after all.
Don’t forget, this is the same Norman Mailer that tried to kill his wife with a pen knife, punched out Gore Vidal at a party and had a violent on camera fight with RIP Torn. The man was prone to violent outbursts, and at best could be described as dangerous. That hardly qualifies him to lecture people about much, seeing as he was so mentally unstable
He reiterated his despair re children and concentration in one of his last interviews before he died, I think with the BBC World Service.
Thanks for uploading. Never seen Mailer so calm in an interview which is a tribute to Amis. By the way, did Amis have a regular talk show in the UK?
So interesting that Norman Mailer and his wife, Norris Church were both born on January 31st about 8:00 AM
Fascinating passage on love and power: amis: sexuality is woven into the book. Seduction. Power. Sexualty. They are intimately connected.
mailer: well, aren't they? without the drive to power i think there'd be half as many children in the world. they came not out of love but from the urge either in a man or a woman to dominate each other -- and the form it took was sex. I'm not saying it's good or bad, and it might be bad for all I know, but power absolutely gets into sex. whom dominates whom is crucial to most sexual relationships, as opposed to some that are equal. when you're writing about nasty people i don't know how you can avoid writing about certain concepts of power.
amis: is that the defining notion of men and women. that it is always a war?
mailer: no, i think there's usually a war. and even when there isn't a war between men and women they really have to be always aware of the possibility of that war all the time... even when they love one another. Most of the time people who love each other or are close to one another nonetheless always have to watch out for that possibility of the war flicking up again. it has roots after all.
My creative father.
"...it's an unhappy period for America. I don't know; maybe it'll turn around."
Twenty years on, and no sign thereof.
Don’t forget, this is the same Norman Mailer that tried to kill his wife with a pen knife, punched out Gore Vidal at a party and had a violent on camera fight with RIP Torn. The man was prone to violent outbursts, and at best could be described as dangerous. That hardly qualifies him to lecture people about much, seeing as he was so mentally unstable