Norman Mailer s Later Fiction considers five works - Ancient Evenings (1983), Tough Guys Don t Dance (1984), Harlot's Ghost (1991), The Gospel According to the Son (1997), The Castle in the Forest (2007) - to examine, for the first time in a full volume, Mailer s literary maturity. Essays from esteemed scholars, Mailer's wife, andeditor, discuss Mailer s modes of cultural critique, connecting his political, theological, sexual, and aesthetic insights. This book will be essential reading for all Mailer scholars and offers provocative insights in such areas as postmodern American writing, masculinity studies, and the developing interface of literary and religious studies.

Foreword: Our Byron; J.Epstein Absolutely Dauntless: A Quarter-century of Sex, God, Politics, and Fame; J.Whalen-Bridge PART I: SEX From Egypt to Provincetown, By Trump Air: The Historical Return of the Repressed in Ancient Evenings and Tough Guys Don't Dance; S.Duguid Mailer and the 'Diet of Reality': Tough Guys Don't Dance and American Values; J.E.Ryan PART II: GOD Mailer's 'Gnostic' Gospel; A.Howley A Jew for Jesus? A Jewish Reading of Norman Mailer's The Gospel According to the Son; M.Bernstein Augustinian Evil in Gospel According to the Son and The Castle in the Forest: A Case for Non-Dualism; J.F.L.Partridge PART III: POLITICS Imperial Mailer: Ancient Evenings; A.Howley Spooks and Agencies: Harlot's Ghost and the Culture of Secrecy; B.J.McDonald The Nazi Occult and The Castle in the Forest: Raw History and Fictional Transformation; H.Wolffram PART IV: FAME History Looking at Itself: On the Road with the Mailers and George Plimpton; L.Shainberg Late Mailer: His Writing and Reputation Since Ancient Evenings; J.Whalen-Bridge Afterword: Norman as Editor; N.Mailer