Books

November, 1991

Norman Mailer is an exasperating genius. His huge (1307 pages) new novel, Harlot's Ghost (Random House), demonstrates in many passages that he is still a dazzling prose stylist. It also offers us plenty of his quirky imaginative intelligence as he surveys the American political landscape. This is the Mailer we admire. His gift for describing powerful dramatic moments and for providing unorthodox philosophical insights has not deserted him. Unfortunately, neither have his obsessions.Mailer indulg...