Mailer has acknowledged that much of his characterization in The Naked and the Dead derives from Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. Dos Passos's trilogy USA (1930-1936; see separate entry) has newsreel sections and capsule biographies of historical figures that are interleaved with the lives of fictional characters in America from the turn of the century to the Depression. Camera Eye sections provide the narrator's very personal subjective impressions of the era and of his consciousness within it. The multiple frames through which a culture is viewed in USA clearly set a precedent for Mailer's World War II epic. Hemingway's influence seems more a matter of subject matter. Great events — particularly war — challenge the writer to become the consciousness of his time. Mailer, as Hemingway taught him, uses the.....
This is a free excerpt of 130 words. This section contains 256 words. This
study guide contains 31,831 words (approx. 106 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Naked and the Dead Access Pass.