Norman Mailer interview (2003)

[@ManufacturingIntellect]

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[@rustycalvera977]

its much more fascinating to watch mailer speak than to just listen to him speak....to see the excitement in his eyes rise up when he makes a connection is wonderful and you love him for it.

[@prbrandon]

Seen 18 years after the interview, I find Mailer’s prognosticators about the Iraq war to be extraordinarily prescient.

[@TaborTalk]

I know, right?

[@therexbellator]

What struck me about this interview is how hawkish Charlie Rose is, basically being pro-war here. He, like so many Americans, got suckered in by the Bush Administration's lies and exaggerations about the war. Miller was absolutely right about the war though. It tainted American politics, not just that, the Bush-Cheney administration's failures opened the door to the alt-right and further erosion of American politics. I don't know how I feel about Mailer but he was spot on with his points.

[@snowdog001]

@@therexbellator written in 2022, he was so on the money & so many levels above Charlie's basic logic, Charlie's reading right out of the George W playbook. It's like a Zen Master speaking to a child.

[@Bishopspipes]

Wow. Just watched this immediately after I watched him when he was on Dick Cavett with Gore Vidal and what a different man. I also read his WIKIPEDIA page. Dude was married 6x. He lived a lifetime just in the time from when he was on the Cavett show up to this here interview. Time appears to have mellowed him. It made me wonder exactly what his life was like inbetween both of those interviews and I'd only hope to be as full of vigor as he was at 80 in this interview.

[@roc7880]

me too. Mailer was a total dick then

[@rishabhaniket1952]

He was drunk as far as I have read and Vidal had been attacking him since the past few years in the press.

[@dominickeefe2454]

Extraordinary writer. All his characters have detailed motivations, perceptively described, giving a great insight into their lives and times.

[@clive7092]

"People are more powerful now, but they have less pleasure than they did 50 years ago." That's true for sure.

[@TaborTalk]

He’s lucid and looks great for 80…sadly he died 4 years later in 2007…after seeing this interview you’d think he had another 20 years in him, but….life, one never knows

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

When you become old, you are moving toward death.

[@Washington-Dreaming]

I’m reading “Helltown” right now. Absolutely terrific true-crime read. But Norman Mailer was quite the hellraiser. Some witch wannabe was stalking him and he stayed up late one night, waiting for her, with a shotgun. She crept up on his rented cabin and he screamed at her, “I’m going to blow a hole in your skinny little witch ass,” or something like that, then he chased her and shot into the air. Kurt Vonnegut is also heavily featured in the book and they lived in the same town, along with quite a few other writers. But if you want to read about a true psycho serial killer in a small town in the late 60s, along with crazy authors, “Helltown” is for you.

[@hardheadjarhead]

A great writer. Seems to have mellowed in his old age.

[@therexbellator]

This is definitely a way different appearance than his 1970 interview on Dick Cavett. He was a fascinating man nevertheless.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

I wish I had some kind of cosmic portal to call writers like him and tell their work is still read and appreciated.

[@Scotts865]

He was so right about the wars. Charlie can’t keep up.

[@noelreid2298]

I love the honesty of this wonderful author

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Yes, honest was once a highly valued virtue, and we were compelled to seek the truth.

[@marypladsen5231]

I love the way Rose talks to writers - the big ones.

[@bryanwilliams9701]

Wow 100% right about the Iraq debacle and what it would do to our country.

[@Stantheman848]

it wasn't a debacle.... it was a huge victory for the owners.... they stole trillions from the gullible american peasants.

[@cejannuzi]

And yet he praises Wm Safire, one of the idiots at the NYT pushing for it and promoting it among the simpletons of the American public.

[@omarcasas6948]

" People that are dumb and hang around bright people become bright" My Favorite Author of all time.

[@ChristopherHemsworthCreative]

I'm not quite sure why Charlie Rose was considered so good at whatever this is that he does. "Interviewing"? I have a hard time getting a sense of what Charlie's angle is. To laud the guest? To boost his own ego and persona? To actually search for interesting conversation? I dunno anymore.

[@zootsoot2006]

He's a morning show host, who got lost in the studios one day and the producers didn't realise he had no place being there, being even more stupid than him.

[@TedBurke]

Mailer has been on the Rose program many times and obviously enjoyed his time at the table with him.Rose may take too long to frame a question, but when all things are considered he does listen to Mailer's assertions, asides and declarations and asks follow up questions, insists that Mailer explain further, or like insist that the author make a clearer statement regarding some fuzzier remarks that had come before. So yes, Rose does insert himself too much, but yes, he does get his guests, Mailer included, to discuss nuances of their work and ideas that might other wise gone unnoticed. And rememember, as well, that Rose was virtually the only one during his run who regularly booked literary writers and a wide assortment of thinkers , artists and policy makers. For that, I can forgive his verbosity.

[@rememberingtruth]

Wow so you would rather have Rose pander and steer to the left or right? Thank god there is someone who can actually try to be politically neutral

[@ChristopherHemsworthCreative]

@@rememberingtruth No I would not rather any of that. I didn't mean his political angle at all, I mean angle in the general sense. As an interviewer. Of anyone.

[@boorhaave5880]

@@ChristopherHemsworthCreative I agree, he didn't seem particularly well-read or cultured unlike Dick Cavett. But in the post-Cavett era he was probably the best there was

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

But now I would say, a year later, INTELLIGENT CONVERSATION, which is rare in contemporary U. S. And taking NOVELS (Long novels) so seriously. Now, things have to be conveyed in TWO MINUTES OR LESS. And I feel SAD and sorry for Norman, as he pursued the dream of writing a "great American Novel," so long, so complex. Give me the short paragraph!

[@theesperanzacompromisebyja9044]

The Executioner's song was a true crime book by Norman Mailer that was made into an exceptional TV movie on NBC.

[@marsazorean8455]

Rose exemplifies american media arrogance. What a knob.

[@patmurphy6843]

I think he actually knew the truth, he was going along with gang.

[@justjl3462]

now am finally motivated to read Ancient Evenings

[@soylentramen7795]

"We have a huge equivalent of McDonald's food in the literary world"

[@TheVCRTimeMachine]

But a Big Mac once or twice a year isn't necessarily a terrible thing.

[@lastdays9163]

Mailer was spot on about the war in Iraq. He was worried about starting something we couldn't finish. And that's exactly what happened. The Iraqis never had a chance to cheer on the streets of Bagdad and probably won't be able to for decades to come.

[@robbass40]

26 minutes. Wow. Mailer. So wise. Rose is just lost.

[@syourke3]

They’re both naive. They think that the USA is a “democracy” and “noble”.

[@kellelane9307]

So very true... this is the current status of many "Americans"... folks are gonna fuck around and find out... soon

[@lonelycubicle]

I wish Charlie didn’t interrupt so much. Also, here and in an old interview on Firing Line, Mailer mentions technology, curious if he read Heidegger or what the influence was for those points.

[@jc6594]

Today Commemorates Norman Mailer's 95th Birthday

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

"Couldn't ignore a lack of courage in yourself" - Hemingway 🙂💗

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

Thankful for Norman ...writers are so important for humanity to have ...more numerous your writers, better culture you have 📖 📕 📘 📗

[@alteredcatscyprus]

Wish he could see what America has turned into today. It’s tragic for those of us who remember how great she was.

[@edwardjnarrojr3135]

Excellent interview.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

What a unique personality Norman was. And SO WELL EDUCATED. Read all those "books." Nowadays, we just "scan the Internet." Do people still read books?

[@u.s.n.retired1995]

America is arrogant and we're just getting worse. I see that Rose doesn't like to listen or be called out!

[@RainEnjoyThe]

Was one of the worst and most overrated interviewers ever

[@cliffdariff74]

America arrogant because she had to fight fucking terrorists?? U.S. did what other countries were afraid to do, so they critized America in public, whilst taking a deep sigh of relief in private.

[@Stantheman848]

@@cliffdariff74 hahaha you are such an owned little peasant. Totally brainwashed by your owners. The only terrorists who did 911 were cheney and his gang. They have made trillions from the laughable and fake war on terror. Wake up peasant.

[@blackrock1009]

@@cliffdariff74 brainwashed.

[@johnsharman7262]

Norman says making films would have been sexier, more fun, more power than writing(the noblest art): little did he know that Rose's power and his youth were lording it over Mailer's waning lucidity and vigour through this new medium of televised interviews. Norman sportingly plays along, reminding he's 80 years old. Mailer still very present, has his senses and critical faculties intact.

[@GlobeHackers]

Norman would be horrified by America in 2023. He was more than prescient regarding Iraq. No one listens, and they never will. Now the power of tech has utterly highjacked the soul. Dust.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Yes, the power of the human personality has been diminished. Everyone just wants to babble about Donald Trump. To get attention, people become CRACKPOTS. Mailer was ORIGINAL and different and provocative.

[@dattieo]

Rose seems to have to insinuate his own thoughts into every question he asks Mailer. He can't let Mailer finish. It was more like a debate than an interview, and hard to watch.

[@hogarthay]

thank you so much

[@willlloyd9547]

Rose was so wrong about Iraq...

[@HoldenNY22]

Well , I have a feeling that Charlie Rose probably knew going to Iraq was a mistake, but he was forced to say how Bad Sadaam Hussein was and what a great idea going to War in Iraq. Both PHil Donahue and Jessie VEntura were fired from their jobs for speaking out agianst going to War in Iraq. If Charlie Rose had said going to War in Iraq is bad, I thiink we would have found out about Charlie's Rose alledged bad Sexual Behavoir just after he denounced the Iraq War as opposed to just a year or so ago.

[@willlloyd9547]

HoldenNY22 Yeah good point. I hadn't considered it from that angle.

[@cyruskalali8222]

I love Norman. He is so great.

[@craigtilstone4498]

He ‘is’ so great? Oh dear. I’ve got some bad news for you...

[@MilesPittman]

Had to look up meretricious..

[@johnmatthewhall]

I dislike both of these arrogant men. But I loved this interview and learned a lot.

[@erikj2738]

Norman struggles tp perceive reality through the eyes of a mere mortal.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Honest and a devotion to truth were valued at that time in history. Now, crackpots rule the world.

[@idicula1979]

Wise words about becoming old.

[@ashleyburns6752]

His 1968 accent was the best, you listen even in 1979 (Buckley) and it had changed.

[@cosmokramer4703]

28:52 and he was exactly right!!!

[@78bcat]

"People who are dumb who hang around bright people, sometimes get brighter" The twinkle in Mailer's eyes tells me he's speaking directly to Charlie Rose....

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Well, compared with the media figures of today, Rose was a genius, such complex, intelligent questions.

[@Earvid83]

Holy f#ck how right he was about the war in Iraq...

[@Frank_Cohen]

31:10 Wait for Mailer's retort and then listen to him on "democracy."

[@justjl3462]

in 2003 we were in pittsburgh, Bradford Woods to be exact...listening to the war drums...and getting pretty uneasy

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

Norman is right about the novel ...Norm is my friend ...wow! That makes 9 friends in my Buick 🚘 ...it's getting crowded

[@benjaminglover1570]

One of the greats. If you believe him.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Well, sometimes great men like to flaunt their greatness, like Mohammed Ali. It's actually an endearing trait.

[@AB-xq2iy]

Mailer is also an incredible Conceptual Artist. Books such as Advertisements For Myself, or The Presidential Papers, and of course The Armies of The Night, take the American written word to new heights because of the conceptual structure of these works. Books that are the outcome of a great author putting his own person in the role of the story teller - thus making the difference between author and Person of the Text so mesmerizingly thin - such texts grasp the reader by the balls. has anyone read Theodore Dreiser's A Book About Myself recently? another masterpiece of that kind. Charlie Rose sort of misses the point when confronted with this elder and more resigned (but perhaps even wiser) Mailer. He (Rose) works so hard to get Mailer out of his shell, only to use the opportunity to insult Mailer to his face (and in public). shame on you Charlie.

[@NapoleonSolo61]

I like Mailer he has empathy for the people at bottom

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Well, Mailer was so prominent because he was a PERSONALITY and a public figure. His "writing" went along with his persona. Very rare. The only other writer of that time I can think of was LESLIE FIEDLER. Leslie was one of the great writer/personalities of the 20th Century. I visited University of Buffalo and took classes with him (no credit). I had a telephone conversation before he died. He was so curious about other people.

[@mysillyusername]

Common sense, but how many Americans understand this? Still valid 20 years later.

[@garethcraddock9971]

Wow, how right Norman was...

[@josephzimmer4173]

Rose makes this interview unwatchable (& I'm a Mailer fan)

[@robbass40]

Wow this ages badly for Charlie Rose. Mailer is brilliant.

[@patmurphy6843]

I always said he was fake . he acts a good intellectual(well prepared) he always goes with the status Quo ,lame.

[@999reader]

The problem with Rose as an interviewer is that Miller makes elliptical remarks that Rose understands, but probably not his audience. Rose needs to remind Mailer to talk for a general audience, and he doesn’t.

[@clive7092]

Norm could see the future.

[@michaelwoodsmccausland915]

Life teaches one the gifts I/We each have! MWM

[@carlodave9]

Interesting to see how the war build-up propaganda was at work even among critically thinking intellectuals -- both so certain that Iraq was full of weapons of mass destruction. This, despite the fact that there was plenty of information and inspectors' accounts available at the time that refuted the assumption. But here the fallacy is taken as a given in this conversation.

[@kkhushkkhush9892]

It is funny when Charlie says we are not 'dominating them.' Of course NOT Charlie.

[@lalitborabooks]

I don’t understand the continuous bashing of Charlie Rose. As far as i have seen him, he is always respectful, helds his points, challenges the guest, is well read and and has his opinions and don’t always agrees with his guest. And these qualities makes him a great host. We don’t want robots in front of celebrities, just listening and nodding. Then it would be called lecture not interview. Interview is a two way process.

[@jeffrey3498]

"Approaching old age" The river in Egypt 🤣

[@deplorabledani6080]

"Nothing is more beautiful than democracy but you can't play with it." Start at 32:50 and listen to a liberal that makes sense. Oh, how times have changed over 16 years. I offer the reverse scenario in this conversation. "You can't inject socialism into a democracy that has taken centuries to build,." I think that is where Mailer was going when he clearly states "The reason that THEY are doing it is to change the nature of AMERICAN life." Charlie rudely interrupts but the point was made. Just look at what is going on now folks. Mailer was onto something.

[@soylentramen7795]

15:46 And then go back and listen to his description of journalism to find out why........

[@enbym1793]

What a facile and asinine comment. Socialism has been embedded in American life for as long as taxes have been collected to provide services and protections to the American people.

[@lenoregorman4688]

He says about Republicans that they have gotten so smart, he's right, they have a find-tuned political machine that's good at strategy and propaganda to win the fights. (No, I'm not a Republican)

[@AlessandroZir]

very intelligent guy, no doubt he was quoted be Burroughs!

[@jamesbowden4871]

Even before MeToo, I always thought that Charlie Rose should have lost his job simply because he can't interview well: he interrupts when he should let his guest finish a thought, and often with a pompous, self-indulgent flourish and literal hand-wave to dismiss what his guest just said in a primate show of dominance. You can see how thoroughly outclassed Rose becomes here across Mailer. Worse still, Rose espoused all the worst American Exceptionalism Babble of the early 2000s in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003; he even parrots that absurd notion -- which the truly wise like Mailer even at the time exposed as folly -- that Iraqis would greet American troops as liberators. But Mailer saw through all that loutish nonsense from the start and tried to make Charlie understand. Rose could never think for himself, and he strikes me as the type of man who never admits even to having changed his mind on anything after the fact.

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

"Any great art, is a struggle" ...oh yes 👍 ...I do know this

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

"Nobility is always in danger" ...and Jesus spoke to this

[@ribe3434]

An amazing mind. True to himself.

[@AB-xq2iy]

I started watching the interview, but when Chalie Rose started asking Mailer "why he hasn't written a truly great novel (by Mailer's definition of great)" I had to turn the thing off. Rose is abusive and disrespectful. shame on him.

[@AB-xq2iy]

@Glum Sullen Unfortunately, despite the 'respectful' manner, it still constitutes an embarrassingly violent gesture to ask a veteran author, such as Norman Mailer, why they haven't written a 'truly great novel' - even if the question is framed in terms the author himself had used during the interview. this is the equivalent of asking a famous middle aged actress why she had done plastic surgery on her face, after she had mentioned that 'she had done much to keep up her good looks'. It is one thing to interview Norman Mailer about his well known and well published antics in the past... and it is another thing entirely to confront him with a question that is based on the assumption that he has not written his masterpiece yet. I suggest one watches the Charlie Rose interview beginning to end again, and then, for comparison, watch the Dick Cavett show episode with the famous confrontation between Mailer and Gore Vidal. this obviously is one of Mailer's most heated exchanges on TV, and still, if we listen to it in its entirety, it becomes clear that Mailer is neither arrogant or vain - he simply is angry about what appears to be Vidal's hypocritical remarks about Mailer in an article published before the interview. Mailer always has good reason being 'flamboyant' and extreme when talking on such matters - he feels that he is representing, not merely himself, but every and each truth seeking member of the audience - his so-called 'arrogance' is a means to an end. While Charlie Rose is being disrespectful to the point that any sensible viewer would cringe in embarrassment just listening to him. There is a difference between well-earned 'riding the high horse' when attacking (in public) the hypocritical behaviour of the self-appointed literary Elite such as Vidal represents, and luring a well-accomplished true genius of American Culture and Literature in order to insult him in public. Charlie Rose crossed that line.

[@patrickmccormack4318]

Norman effectively said "there are good writers". Funny that he did not mention Gore Vidal. Poor taste for not giving credit to the relationship. Last 3/4 of the show is quality.

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

I like 👍 Norman's ears 👂 ...good chin also

[@gabrielmanetti3071]

Time is the master! Prove that Mailer was right and stupid Charlie Rose was wrong !!!

[@ChrisDennis-dp3md]

"Please don't say oil." Why does Rose say this? Because he wants to believe the world can't be reduced to such pedestrian concerns.

[@Themaritimes99]

Man he nailed the Iraq war

[@AndrewMarloweTV]

Mailer sounds just like lenord demoy

[@blastforge1]

Hello Bob?

[@knorkstea606]

Hahahahahahah in 1960 what autor stabbed his whife in an argument at a party

[@jamessinclair1826]

How prescient was Mailer re the Iraq war ?

[@palexminear]

Mailer was right

[@Besdayz]

Charlie Rose was very wrong about Saddam. He didn't try to burn it all down at the end. He was captured humbly and stood trial. Though it was stacked against him. He was a bad actor but it isn't questioned how illegal acts led to his capture. Namely the war of aggression.

[@clive7092]

in terms of in terms in terms of

[@TobiasCBrown]

Charlie really fails here on Iraq. What a joke. People in Iraq will be cheering, he says. What a lightweight he was. Good interview topics but not an interesting man.

[@JCPJCPJCP]

Charlie Rose at his worst. Interrupting constantly, changing the subject repeatedly, refusing to allow Mailer to speak for more than fifteen seconds, competing with his guest, ad nauseum. It's amusing to see Mailer apologize for interrupting Charlie.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Why is everyone turning against Charlie Rose, who was the best interviewer of his time. Because he walked around in the nude?

[@mattgelfer]

About 24:00 Norman Mailer predicts Trumpism.

[@cbskwkdnslwhanznamdm2849]

are they saying bush was a good politician?

[@bretthomas9425]

Jesus Christ, was Charlie wrong about Iraq.

[@ChrisDennis-dp3md]

The invasion of Iraq was about oil. And Iran.

[@andreasmodugno]

McEnroe when he’s 80….

[@erikj2738]

Define "good".

[@chetbroan2790]

Charlie rose is everything wrong with "journalism" He has a way to ruin interviews with his ego

[@shangrila73eldorado]

I never appreciated Charlie interrupting the guests. He's NOT more interesting than his guests.

[@devrajkandel2050]

Jan 31 and jul 31st…even mailer refuses to remember the month.

[@justjl3462]

world according to Garp was funny as hell

[@Rainy_Day12234]

Great book, wrong author

[@ardalire651]

Mailer didn't write Garp

[@cejannuzi]

Vidal was the great wit and conversationalist. Mailer, not so much. But he was a better writer than Vidal (in my opinion). Still, he's kind of stupid here, praising a piece of crap like Wm Safire. Really. Bad.

[@brianlooksaround6125]

Shut up, Charlie!

[@noralofts]

.

[@willpike8320]

bilbo

[@AlongtheFarClimbDown843]

🎯 😜🎯 😜🎯 😜🎯 😜🎯 😜 Amusement Park Camp Fest Touch me like you mean it with your love-stick in the dark at the amusement park ~ Swing my door like my hinges aren't rusted while you lift your leg with 1 knee cap busted ~ Don't kiss me in front of my favorite chicken today because I'm not feeling kissable in a romantical way...

[@zootsoot2006]

Lovely stuff!

[@AmsterdamagedHQ]

Mailer dropped the phoney British/ Irish accent in his later years.

[@rogerlephoque3704]

That's not an English accent "phoney" or otherwise. There is no such thing as a composite "British" accent. People from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are British, but you'd be hard pushed to convince anyone that Mailer sounds anything like the aforementioned denizens. What next? RP?

[@AmsterdamagedHQ]

@@rogerlephoque3704 The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a cultivated accent of English blending together prestigious American and British English ways of speaking. Adopted in the early 20th century mostly by American aristocrats and actors, it is not a native vernacular or regional American accent. - Wikipedia

[@rogerlephoque3704]

@@AmsterdamagedHQ Your comment is not just "phoney", it's phooey! Mid-Atlantic accent sounds nothing like Mailer. Where now? PS: I have edited my original comment above

[@AmsterdamagedHQ]

@@rogerlephoque3704 I understand your arguement that due to the different reigons the Brits have occupied/colonized (Scotland, Northern Ireland) there can be no singular "British" accent. But to the rest of us who dont get caught up on sillyness understand that the "British accent" is associated with the upperclass english way of speaking. Mailer spoke in a "Transatlantic" accent. What accent do you think Mailer speak with? Is it native to his birthplace?

[@rogerlephoque3704]

@@AmsterdamagedHQ You've missed out one, the best one at that...Cymru am byth! "Occupied/colonized" Scotland is revisionist history in the making. Evidently, you have forgotten that the two kingdoms were united in the person of King James VI of Scotland who became King James I of "England" on the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. A political union followed in 1706 and 1707 when the legislatures of both countries enacted Acts of Union. As of today, there is no "singular" [sic] British accent save for RP, received pronunciation, spoken by fewer than 5% of the UK's population from John O'Groats to Land's End and at all points East and West in the British Isles. I wonder why the doughty denizens of NYC's 5 boroughs don't speak with a Dutch accent? Fess up. I think we should be told

[@LaLasta]

Oh look. Two creeps

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Becomes tiresome finally.