Mired in the Past

Mailer’s Egypt

Authors

  • Nicole DePolo Fisher College Author

Keywords:

Ancient Evenings, ancient Egypt, Menenhetet, critical reception, mythology, The Armies of the Night

Abstract

For many readers, Ancient Evenings was too remote, both in terms of its arcane setting and its lurid symbolism. Unfavorable critics seized on the opportunity to draw disparaging parallels between the infamous deeds of the novel’s protagonist, Menenhetet, and Mailer’s own foibles. However, some considered Ancient Evenings a work of “magnitude” and recognized its potential to give a “retrospective order and enhancement” to Mailer’s oeuvre.

Author Biography

  • Nicole DePolo, Fisher College

    Nicole DePolo is an Assistant Professor of English at Fisher College in Boston, MA. She holds a PhD in Editorial Studies from the Editorial Institute at Boston University, an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, and a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her doctoral dissertation, Norman Mailer’s Book of the Dead, is a critical and visual companion to Ancient Evenings that includes an annotated edition of “The Book of the Gods.”

Downloads

Published

2017-10-26

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

DePolo, Nicole. “Mired in the Past: Mailer’s Egypt”. The Mailer Review, vol. 11, no. 1, Oct. 2017, pp. 111–126, https://mailerreview.org/journal/article/view/615.