Advertisements for Myself is an 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 Sons in 1959 after Mailer secured his reputation with The Naked and the Dead, then endured setbacks with the less-enthusiastic reception of Barbary Shore (1951) and The Deer Park (1955). Advertisements, though chaotic, unapologetically defiant, and often funny, marks the beginning of Mailer's mature style.
Advertisements, with its new interest in counterculture, politics, and sexual liberation, is a key book among the dozens that Mailer produced and helped to create his persona as a swaggering, anti-establishment writer and explore "the web of relations between personal valor and virtue and literary growth and mastery" and serving as Mailer's "announcement that he was king of the literary hill."Feeney, Mark (2007). "Norman Mailer, Self-titled King of the Literary Hill, dies at 84." While initial sales were modest, Advertisements received many strong reviews, notably from Alfred Kazin and Irving Howe, and the New York Times Book Review, Partisan Review, and the Village Voice.Lennon, Double Life, p. 256-57.
A Note to the Reader This section explains the book's two tables of contents. The first lists the contents of the book in chronological order, while the second table of contents categorizes the pieces based on genre, such as fiction, essays, and interviews. Mailer lists what he believes are his best pieces in the book, which are: The Man Who Studied Yoga, "The White Negro", "The Time of Her Time", "Dead Ends", and "Advertisements for Myself on the Way Out".
First Advertisement for Myself Mailer gives readers his perspective, at age 36, on his writing, other writers, and the state of the nation. He believes his work, present and future, will be a key influence on those practicing his craft. In pulling together this collection of short novels, short stories, essays and advertisements, he's making his case and showing how he's matured as a writer over the years. Though at times in his career he was influenced by Ernest Hemingway, he points to the author as a writer who didn't grow. "Hemingway has always been afraid to think, afraid of losing even a little popularity… and his words excite no thought in the best of my rebel generation". It's a generation that he believes has grown up in a world "more in decay than the worst of the Roman Empire." Still, he gives Hemingway credit for knowing the value of his own work and fighting to make his personality enrich his books. A writer's personality, Mailer observes, can determine how much attention readers give his work. "The way to save your work and reach more readers is to advertise yourself."
Part One: Beginnings This section includes Mailer's earliest works, written when he was a student at Harvard. Mailer admits that he is not particularly proud of the pieces in this section, but has included them for the readers who are interested in his early works. The pieces in this section are: Advertisement for A Calculus at Heaven - The author writes that A Calculus at Heaven is his attempt, as a young writer, to imagine what war might really be like. A Calculus at Heaven (short novel) - Set in the Pacific theater during World War II, five American soldiers - greatly outnumbered by enemy forces - have orders to maintain control of the nearby coastal road at all cost. Advertisement for "The Greatest Thing in the World" - In his explanation of this short story, Mailer writes that it won first place in a Story magazine contest in 1941. Still, he was embarrassed to read it in later years. The only redeeming quality he can find in the story, in hindsight, is its sense of pace. "The Greatest Thing in the World" (short story) - Al Groot, a broke and hungry drifter, tries to out-maneuver a couple of hustlers he meets at a diner on a rainy night. Advertisement for "Maybe Next Year" - The author describes the prose in "Maybe Next Year" as Salinger-ish, but said the inspiration was really Faulkner. Just a month or so before the story's writing, Mailer had read The Sound and the Fury. "Maybe Next Year" (short story) - Set during the Great Depression, a 9-year-old boy retreats into the woods and meadows near his home during his parents’ frequent fights over money.
Part Two: Middles The second section features the short stories Mailer wrote hoping to keep up with the fame and notoriety that followed his best selling novel, The Naked and the Dead. "Second Advertisement for Myself" - After his stint in the Army, Mailer spent all his time working on The Naked and the Dead. The novel was a bigger success than he would have ever imagined. But it led to questions about whether he ever would be able to repeat that success. In a sense, he writes, he may have been trying to evade that question by writing Barbary Shore. Excerpts from Barbary Shore - Michael Lovett, a WWII vet, moves into a boarding house in Brooklyn, where he plans to write a novel. At the boarding house, he observes and interacts with the other characters who live there. "Third Advertisement for Myself" - The timing was right for The Naked and the Dead, Mailer writes. It came out when everyone was ready for a long war novel. The timing was wrong for Barbary Shore. The media at the time seemed interested in getting America back to chastity, regularity, the safe, he writes. Mailer includes a number of bad reviews the novel received. The criticisms lead the author to turn his attention to short stories. Advertisement for "Three War Stories" - Mailer describes writing ten short stories in a few weeks, using the same method: He'd start in the morning, finish the same day or give up on the idea. He writes that he takes no great pride in the stories. "The Paper House" - World War II is over, and Nicholson and his pseudo-friend Hayes are stationed with a company of men in a small Japanese city. The two take frequent trips to a geisha house, where Nicholson longs for the company of Hayes’ regular geisha. "The Language of Men" - Sanford Carter, an insecure GI, feels completely worthless in the Army until he becomes a cook. Initially satisfied in the job, he goes through great lengths to gain the approval of his fellow soldiers. But, when they grow indifferent to his efforts, he's forced to stand up for himself. "The Dead Gook" - Short story about a group of soldiers who help a group of Gooks, which are Filipino men. The Gooks take the soldiers on a quest to find one of their men who was killed by Japanese soldiers. Brody, one of the soldiers, hates the Gooks and doesn't care about the dead one until the end when he finally realized they weren't so bad. Advertisement for "The Notebook" - The author talks about when "The Notebook" was first published in The Cornhill magazine. Mailer writes how he received many comments about this story and how it had the most comments out of all his stories that were published in English newspapers. He also writes about how he only wrote this story in an hour and was criticized by some of his readers. "The Notebook" - Story focuses on a young writer and his girlfriend. They are on a walk when they begin to argue about the writer who never pays attention to his lady. The only thing he pays attention to is his notebook where he writes down all of his ideas for future works. This, in turn, causes a bigger issue, and the lady leaves the writer to be alone with his notebook until he realizes how much his lady meant to him. Advertisement for "The Man Who Studied Yoga." - In this advertisement for "The Man Who Studied Yoga", Mailer talks about how he was planning on this piece to be a prologue to an eight-part novel. He wanted his characters to appear in each part but at different ages. After finishing the first part, "The Deer Park", he realized an eight-part novel wasn't going to happen and settled for one with "The Man Who Studied Yoga" as the prologue. "The Man Who Studied Yoga" (A short novel which served the prologue for The Deer Park) - "The Man Who Studied Yoga" is about a man named Sam Slovoda and his wife, Eleanor. Sam and Eleanor are at constant state of anxiety over their sex life. Their friends end up finding an old pornographic film, and they all gather at the Slovodas’ house to watch it. Afterward, their friends leave, and Eleanor and Sam are having relations while Sam is constantly overthinking if he is doing everything right. In the end, Sam stresses himself out and knows that when he meets his psychoanalyst the next day, he is going to have to explain everything to him. Advertisement for "Three Political Pieces" - In this advertisement, Mailer talks about his pieces that were first published in the symposium in the Partisan Review in 1951 and 1952. "The Meaning of Western Defense" and "David Reisman Reconsidered" are the two pieces he talks about. Mailer mentions how different the two pieces are, in terms of how they are written. "Our Country and Our Culture" (Partisan Review Symposium) - Mailer discusses how writers were not respected as war writers and that a lot of writers were feeling alienated during this symposium. He talks about whether or not writers were ever more alienated than that day. Mailer also discusses how the literary history of that time was mostly produced by the newer, younger writers. "David Riesman Reconsidered" - A review by Mailer of Riesman's Individualism Reconsidered. He talks about the only other review he had seen, which was Granville Hick's review in 1954. Throughout the review, he critiques Riesman's work and talks about which ones he thought were actually impressive and which ones he thought to be completely boring. "The Meaning of Western Defense" - Mailer gives his thoughts on the Western Defense and how believes it was the ultimate reason for the Western annihilation. He discusses imperialism and Monopoly Capitalism. Mailer talks about what needs to be done in order to gain a socialist world.
Part Three: Births The third section consists of Mailer's writings for Time, Newsweek, and One, ending with several columns written for The Village Voice. The primary features of this section are: Advertisement for Part Three - The articles and novel found in this section were considered by Mailer to be some of his worst works. However, he states that he included them due to the personal growth that he experienced while writing them. Advertisement for "The Homosexual Villain" - In the 1950s, Mailer was contacted to write an article for One - the Homosexual Magazine. After months of avoiding the situation, he finally sat down and wrote "The Homosexual Villain." "The Homosexual Villain" - Mailer states that his previous bigoted opinions of homosexuals experienced gradual changes over the course of a few years. He attributes these changes to Donald Cory's The Homosexual in America and becoming friends with his homosexual neighbor. Fourth Advertisement for myself: The Last Draft of The Deer Park - Mailer's third novel was originally turned down by Rinehart & Company for extreme vulgarity and obscenity. The novel was eventually published up by G.P. Putnam's Sons for publication. The Deer Park underwent extensive editing by Mailer, who identified marijuana and other drugs to be his motivation behind the editing process. Three Excerpts From Rinehart and Putnam Versions of The Deer Park - Rinehart Page Proof: (Pages 1–3)- Sergius O’Shaugnessy, a former Air Force man, arrives in the Southern California town of Desert D’Or. (Pages 134-8) - Teppis describes how his lover, Lulu, is considerably flighty and easily distracted. Yet, she maintains a serene control in her career and in-and-out of the bedroom. (Page 277) - Teppis is giving sexual praises to a young girl by the name of Bobby. Changes found in the Putnam Edition: