Norman Mailer

The Executioner’s Song

Authors

  • Christopher Ricks Boston University Author

Keywords:

The Executioner's Song, capital punishment, true crime narrative, American literature, moral responsibility

Abstract

Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song is a work of genius in its range, depth, and restraint. It has speed, which Gilmore had, and patience, which he had not. It has lucidity, even when dealing with legal entanglements. It has forbearance, even when witnessing brutalities and insensitivities. Its justice is larger than indignation, and its responsible equanimity is at one with its equity. Nothing is extenuated, and nothing set down in malice. The Executioner’s Song thinks again, and feels anew. American dreams are now pushed back to where they belong, and what is contemplated by daylight is an American tragedy.

Author Biography

  • Christopher Ricks, Boston University

    Christopher Ricks is Warren Professor of the Humanities and Co-Director of the Editorial Institute at Boston University. He was formerly King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge. For the usual term of five years (from 2004), he is the Professor of Poetry at Oxford. He has written books on Milton, Keats, Tennyson, T.S. Eliot, Beckett, and Bob Dylan, and he has edited the poems of Tennyson, the early unpublished poems of Eliot, and The Oxford Book of English Verse.

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Published

2026-02-10

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2008): In Memorium

Section

Classic Interpretations

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