Books

Tough guy: Ugly portrait of Norman Mailer’s descent into drunken debauchery and decadence

compelling biography, charting how a genius man of letters wasted both his celebrity and his talent, is a colourful but stomach-churning read

Norman Mailer: the author admired the Irish not just for their artistic talent, but their supposedly constant boozing and eagerness to settle arguments with their fists. Picture: Shutterstock

Norman Mailer regarded himself as a spiritual Irishman. “I’ve always loved the Irish and felt very close to them,” the bestselling American novelist once told a friend. “They have this great bravura, a style, an elegance.”

As Richard Bradford shows in his queasily compelling biography, however, Mailer’s identification with this country was very much a double-edged sword. He admired the Irish not just for their artistic talent, but their supposedly constant boozing and eagerness to ...