''The Presidential Papers'' is a collection of essays, interviews, poems, open letters to political figures, and magazine pieces written by
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
, published in 1963 by
G.P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.
History
The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and ...
. It is, by Mailer's own admission, similar in structure and purpose to ''
Advertisements for Myself
''Advertisements for Myself'' is an omnibus edition, omnibus collection of fiction, essays, verse, and fragments by Norman Mailer, with autobiographical commentaries that he calls "advertisements." ''Advertisements'' was published by G.P. Putnam's ...
'', albeit with a relatively stronger focus on contemporary politics, although many other topics are touched upon. The book covers such topics as
scatology
In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces.
Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases su ...
,
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
,
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
,
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, the
1960 Democratic National Convention
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles, California, on July 11–15, 1960. It nominated Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts for president and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas for vice president.
In ...
in Los Angeles,
Jean Genet
Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...
's 1958 play '' The Blacks'', juvenile delinquency,
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
,
masturbation
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
, and others.
Reception
In 1964
Midge Decter
Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.''Commentary'' which praised Mailer's earnest observation but criticised his "intellectual brashness." Despite chastising Mailer for not being "sufficiently respectful toward the history of man's difficulties with the problems raised in 'The Presidential Papers''" Decter nonetheless concluded her review by claiming "no one else is telling us more about the United States of America."
In reviewing Mailer's personal political stance of 'left-conservativism,' Cyrus Zirakzadeh concluded that ''The Presidential Paperss most significant insight was that the United States has remained formally democratic but nonetheless developed a 'totalitarian culture,' a discussion found in The Ninth Presidential Paper. The primary culprit for this totalitarian culture is a technology-centered '
corporate capitalism
In social science and economics, corporate capitalism is a capitalist marketplace characterized by the dominance of hierarchical and bureaucratic corporations.
Overview
A large proportion of the economy of the United States and its labour marke ...
' where employees become 'sycophants' for their employers, representing a serious threat to individual freedom. What results is a managed, predictable economic order that threatens the United States' unique history of opportunity, risk and fluid social structure.