The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America [Paperback]

Norman Mailer (Author), John Buffalo Mailer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2006

Questions are posed, writes Norman Mailer, "in the hope they will open into richer insights, which in turn will bring forth sharper questions." In this series of conversations, John Buffalo Mailer, 27, poses a series of questions to his father, challenging the reflections and insights of the man who has dominated and defined much of American letters for the past sixty years. Their wide-ranging discussions take place over the course of a year, beginning in July 2004. Set against the backdrop of George W. Bush's re-election campaign and the war in Iraq, each considers what it means to live in America today. John asks his father to look back to World War II, and explore the parallels that can—and cannot—be drawn between that time and our current post-9/11 consciousness. As their conversations develop, the topics shift from the political to the personal to the political again, as they duck and weave around one another. They explore their shared admiration of boxing and poker, the nature of marriage and love, television, movies, writing, and what it means to be a part of this extraordinary family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dialogues" is a generous term for the discussions, in which the 82-year-old Norman Mailer answers questions from his 27-year-old son on subjects ranging from the topical—the Bush administration, the war in Iraq, corporate culture—to the more general—boxing, cards, women (his famous, quiet and insidious misogyny is revealed as that of one who has been married six times and claims to "love women"). Dialogue implies equality, but this is clearly the "great man" handing down his truths to an adoring audience. Each man represents liberal ideas characteristic of his generation, and while it's easy for any like-minded reader to agree with much of what they say, the book doesn't add anything new to the larger political discourse. The thoughts offered are not nuanced enough to get at the heart of any issue. The structure doesn't help things along: small chapters deal with individual themes ("The Problem of Leadership," "Four More Years?"), thus separating what should have been unified. (Mar.)
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Review

"Norman remains a national treasure, and his fans must be grateful to his son...His answers are illuminating, annoying, amusing." -- Kirkus

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Product Details

• Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books; 1st Printing February 2006 edition (January 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560258241
• ISBN-13: 978-1560258247
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps one of our few chances left..., April 1, 2006

By 

NotPerfectBut (Hoboken, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America (Paperback)

Growing up in the sixties, I guess I took Norman Mailer for granted.

Boy, I'll never do that, again.

After all, there was a time when people like Mailer, Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, actually had a regular column, each month, in places like Esquire magazine. And, people such as myself could count on brilliant, independent minds, capable of executing a great novel, providing periodic commentary on the times we were living in (through?). And, the books they wrote were still events: much read, much discussed, and looking back, they were actually what kept us, sane- at least those of us for whom sanity was a virtue.

But, tragically, those days are officially gone.

We now have any number of empty, babbling, pundits; essentially employees of General Electric, Westinghouse, Disney, News Corp and/or TimeWarner, whom we allow to define the day's agenda. What's left of the "culture", is divided up among television, movies, the Internet, and radio... probably in that order.

We actually have nothing left that can be referred to, with any seriousness, as a "culture". We just have different corporate entities using different means of entertainment with which they focus our attention on anything other than what it mean to be "alive" or truly "human". It's a very extraordinary, and extraordinarly dangerous period of history to be living in.

I remember someone on some talk show way back in the early 70's saying that "we're the last ones [that generation, not this] who will remember what it was "like".

Well, here is someone who not only remembers what it was like, but can still, at the age of 83, compare "it" to how it is now, and leave one grateful, shell-shocked, aching for a change of guard, and thanking one's lucky stars for the privilege.

Plus, apart from the conversation bewteen Mailer and his son, there is also an essay inserted right in the middle of the book which alone is worth the price. It is called "Myth Versus Hypothesis", and despite the pretentious title, it is one of the best pieces of political writing I've ever seen in my life. It was apparently delivered as the Keynote Address during Harvard's Commencement Ceremony in 2004. I have not been able to find it anywhere on the Internet, so I do not believe it was ever published elsewhere. I challenge anyone to produce anything comparable, which has appeared in recent years in any magazine, newspaper, etc.

Mailer has lived and learned quite a bit in his time. And I can not exaggerate the value of this gem for those of us who can still appreciate the "Real McCoy", or for those who who would genuinely like to briefly step out of their "Orgasmatron" and actually visit what was once the late, great planet Earth.

I once read that the great French novelist and mystic Romain Rolland carried a copy of Goethe's "Faust" with him at all times ("my constant companion") for his entire adult life. I'm not comparing this book to "Faust", or Mailer to Goethe, or suggesting to anyone that they do the same with it. But, I did recall that statement of Rolland's while reading "The Big Empty". Because it reminded me of how there a just a few rare indivifuals in any epoch that can really help make their age TRULY intelligible to their fellow travellors.

Norman Mailer proves that here... in spades.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted, Funky, Funny, Brilliant..., April 15, 2008

By 

JWH - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America (Paperback)

Mailer always manages to twist in a corkscrew of unexpected words and pop the BS cork off of a rich wine of pungent insight. Lots of fun.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars bo, October 5, 2010

By 

James Adams "bo" (memphis, tn) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America (Paperback)

coming from a math/physics , obviously non-literary , background i was looking

for a nice overview of mailer's work.

unfortunatley, this is simply a series of conversations in the present ( circa2004) with his much younger son. includes a tremendous amount of anti-republican and

pro-democrat harping. even if you agree with him, it seems to wear thing pretty quickly. certainly mr mailer has more important and meaningful

work to display in a collection.

not much meat , or even potatoes, here