Its style is an almost pure Army billingsgate that will offend many readers, although in no sense is it exaggerated: Mr. It is virtuallyĪ Kinsey Report on the sexual behavior of the GI. It is a saturation bombardment with every target hit at least three times. "The Naked and the Dead" is an enormously long novel, washed up by the choppy waters of disillusionment, leaving nothing to the imagination. Even in its repetitiousness, wordiness, and overanalysis of motive, it is a commanding performance by a young man of 25 whose gifts are impressiveĪnd whose failures are a matter of reach rather than grasp. Honest and in scope an integrity compares favorably with the best that followed World War I. Undoubtedly the most ambitious novel to be written about the recent conflict, it is also the most ruthlessly Naked and the Dead"-the story of an imaginary battle in the Pacific-trumpets his dusty answer to the brutality of modern war. Mailer should not be damned for attempting to reduce by frontal assault what better writers have failed to win by infiltration. The Dusty Answer of Modern War By DAVID DEMPSEY The Naked and the Dead By Norman MailerĮrhaps Mr.
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