Mailer Norman. The Naked and the Dead

478 p.Norman Mailer was one of the most original and powerful writers of the twentieth century. He became a celebrity at the age of twenty-five, with the publication, in 1948, of The Naked and the Dead.
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon.
Written in gritty, journalistic detail, the story follows an army platoon of foot soldiers who are fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei. As the platoon advances, the novel flashes back to the soldiers’ lives at home, showing how their identities have been shaped by their ethnic, racial, and regional cultures. The main conflict in the novel is the debate between Lieutenant Hearn and General Cummings. Hearn is a liberal who resists the authoritarian nature of the Army. He wants to lead men because they voluntarily acknowledge his right to rule. Cummings disdains what he considers Hearn’s sentimental view of human nature and government. The Naked and the Dead is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing.