The Defence of the Compass
Mailer's first substantive Cold War essay — an argument against the prospect of a military collision between Soviet state capitalism and U.S. monopoly capitalism, "the Colossi." The piece appears in a London anthology edited by Brigadier Sir John George Smyth and will be greatly revised — with its Korean War material cut — as "The Meaning of 'Western Defense'" (54.1) in the second issue of Dissent.
“The Defence of the Compass.” In The Western Defences, edited by Sir John George Smyth, 134–44. London: Wingate, 1951.
Essay on the prospect of a military collision between “the state capitalism of Russia and the monopoly capitalism of the U.S.” — “the Colossi.” The version’s arguments strongly echo those of Barbary Shore (51.1) and the piece was obviously written shortly before or after the novel appeared.
Rpt: Mailer’s extended comments on the Korean War were cut from the greatly revised version that appeared in Dissent as “The Meaning of ‘Western Defense’” (54.1); and again in Advertisements for Myself (59.13).