It's a curious thing that I've never tried to watch anything that the writer Norman Mailer appeared in on telly in the 1960s/1970s despite the fact there's a fair amount archived on YouTube. I'd say that Mailer had the greatest impact on me of any American writer when I studied Lit at university and I've never quite lost my admiration for him, though I've not read much in recent years. Anyway, I thought I'd take a look at a chat show he appeared in with Gore Vidal which popped up on my YouTube feed today and I'm rather glad I did.
It was an episode of the Dick Cavett Show and entirely refreshing in its lack of resemblance to anything you'd get to watch today. Mailer just doesn't care about appealing to the studio audience or the viewer at all and is incredibly unpredictable and edgy, generating the feeling that just about anything might happen on screen and it might not make for pleasant viewing. But he also is determined to talk about what he regards as serious matters using serious language. He comes across as thoroughly unpleasant and unlikable but fascinatingly so.
I was reminded of what made him such a powerful writer. Possibly a dangerous one. I'm not sure he was all that good for the younger me.
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