Revisiting Naked

In today's Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks reviews the new Library of America volume Norman Mailer: The Naked and the Dead & Selected Letters 1945-1946. Sacks writes:

That debut was sometimes criticized for its pessimism, but rereading it in this anniversary edition left me with a different impression. Its drive, its doggedness and its inexhaustible curiosity exude a glow of idealism amid its darkness. An ambitious first novel is, by definition, an act of hope.

Read the rest of the review (subscription required):

Fiction: Revisiting Norman Mailer’s ‘The Naked and the Dead’

Though he would later become a self-conscious literary celebrity, Mailer became a bestselling author with a vivid account of the realities of war.

The Wall Street JournalSam Sacks