The Cinema of Norman Mailer ─ Film Is Like Death

Norman Mailer: A Cinema Reader consists of new and previously-published analytical essays written by an array of film and literary scholars, enthusiasts, and those with a personal connection to Norman Mailer, which in turn, discusses the author and film-maker's six films made between the years of 1947 and 1987. Mailer's films serve as visual companions to many of his written works as well. By re-examining his films through the new perspectives contained in this volume, one may be afforded a deeper understanding of his oeuvre of texts as well as find an alternative vision of Mailer himself, seeing him not just as a writer, but also, as one of the most prolific Post-Modern artists of the 20th Century who had deep roots in the cinema and allowed it to not only influence his writing but also became his easiest-crafted metaphor. Mailer once said, “Film is legitimately more interesting than books...”. With that in mind, it's time his audience began to study his work through a medium that he was equally as passionate about working in as he was about literature itself.

Justin Bozung is a researcher, writer, and part-time archivist, residing in Georgia, USA. He was a featured contributor at Shock Cinema and Videoscope magazines from 2010 to 2014. He has contributed to two books about Stanley Kubrick: 2001: The Lost Science (2013) and Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (2015). Bozung serves on the board of the Norman Mailer Society and has lectured about Mailer's films.