Moments of Metaphor in Mailer’s Castle

Authors

  • Phillip Sipiora University of South Florida Author

Keywords:

The Castle in the Forest, metaphor, prosopopoeia, narration, evil, God and the Devil, literary modernism, Adolf Hitler, symbolism

Abstract

In “Moments of Metaphor in Mailer’s Castle,” Phillip Sipiora examines the dense metaphorical structures that shape Norman Mailer’s The Castle in the Forest, arguing that metaphor functions as the novel’s primary vehicle for historical, psychological, and theological meaning. Focusing on figures such as the demonic narrator D.T., the competing forces of God and Satan, and the recurring imagery of beekeeping, Sipiora situates Mailer’s novel within a modernist tradition that uses figurative language to explore evil, agency, and moral conflict. The essay contends that Mailer’s sustained reliance on metaphor enables a complex representation of individual development and historical causation without offering reductive explanations for atrocity.

Author Biography

  • Phillip Sipiora, University of South Florida

    Phillip Sipiora is Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of South Florida, where he has taught twentieth-century literature and film since coming from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985. He is the author or editor of three books, more than two dozen scholarly articles, and has lectured nationally and internationally on literature and film. He is the editor of The Mailer Review.

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Published

2026-01-25

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2007): Inaugural Issue

Section

Book Reviews