Norman Mailer on An American Dream
An interview by an unidentified interviewer, comment on the novel and its reviews; the source of Mailer's much-quoted statement of the novel's "one idea" — that love is never captured without paying an extraordinary and continuing price.
An interview by an unidentified interviewer — comment on the novel (65.7) and its reviews. The source of Mailer’s much-quoted account of the novel’s single “idea”: “love is the one human condition we never capture without paying an extraordinary and continuing price. This is certainly not a new idea. But it is desperately out of fashion now, and besides — I did my best to pose this lone idea in as vivid and unendurable a manner as possible.” Rpt: 88.6.