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Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film-maker, actor and political activist. His novel ''The Naked and the Dead'' was published in 1948. His best-known work was widely considered to be ''The Executioner's Song'', which was published in 1979, and for which he won one of his two Pulitzer Prizes. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, his book ''Armies of the Night'' was awarded the National Book Award. Along with Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, Mailer is considered an innovator of creative nonfiction, a genre sometimes called New Journalism, which uses the style and devices of literary fiction in fact-based journalism. Mailer was also known for his essays, the most renowned of which was "The White Negro." He was a cultural commentator and critic, expressing his views through his novels, journalism, essays and frequent media appearances. In 1955, Mailer and three others founded ''The Village Voice'', an arts- and politics-oriented weekly newspaper distributed in Greenwich Village. ==Early life== Mailer was born to a Jewish family in Long Branch, New Jersey.〔(Norman Mailer – Obituaries – News – ''The Independent'' )〕 His father, Isaac Barnett Mailer, was a South African-born accountant, and his mother, Fanny Schneider, ran a housekeeping and nursing agency. Mailer's sister, Barbara, was born in 1927.〔("Norman Mailer, Towering Writer With Matching Ego, Dies at 84." ) ''New York Times''. 2007-11-10.〕 Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Mailer graduated from Boys' High School and entered Harvard University in 1939, when he was 16 years old. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Signet Society. At Harvard, he studied aeronautical engineering, and became interested in writing. He published his first story at the age of 18, winning ''Story'' magazine's college contest in 1941. After graduating in 1943, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Hoping to gain a deferment from service, Mailer argued that he was writing an "important literary work" which pertained to the war.〔Christopher Beha, "Does Mailer Matter? The Young Writer and the last literary celebrity", ''Harper's Magazine'', 88.〕 This deferral was denied, and Mailer was forced to enter the Army. After training at Fort Bragg, Mailer was stationed in the Philippines with the 112th Cavalry.〔Frost's ''Meditations'', http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/jan2009/norman-mailer.html.〕 During his time in the Philippines, Mailer worked as a cook and saw little combat. He participated in a patrol on the island of Leyte. When asked about his war experiences, Mailer stated that "the army gave me but one lesson over and over again: when it came to taking care of myself, I had little to offer next to the practical sense of an illiterate sharecropper."〔Mailer, Norman. "Second Advertisement for Myself: Barbary Shore," from ''Advertisements for Myself'', 1959.〕 This lesson inspired Mailer to write his first novel, ''The Naked and the Dead''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Norman Mailer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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