Seton Hall University - Galleon Yearbook (South Orange, NJ)

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Norman Mailer, America ' s out- spoken literary iconoclast, ap- peared at Seton Hall in October to give a lecture which evolved into an informal discussion. The engage- ment was the first in a series of thirty days in the penitentiary, as Mailer referred to the college lec- ture circuit. Mailer asked the audience to choose the topics which he would discuss. He wished to avoid the formal lecture syndrome and com- mented that he would rather ram- ble than perform in a pattern. The discussion was interrupted by a ruthless, slightly inebriated heck- ler with whom Mailer exchanged insults. He exhibited great poise in the face of such a disturbance and he almost seemed to welcome it. Hostility flourished throughout the evening. Mailer was forced to defend his past and present works and to explain quotes from major newspapers and magazines. The audience attempted to confuse him with every question, but they met with little success in trying to subdue his arrogance. There were several major topics which the notorious author focused upon. He delivered the series of Mailerisms which follows. • On newspapers: Democracy depends upon news- papers for its sanity, which is pretty scary when you stop and think about it. Newspapers today give citizens a delitorious notion of the world. Journalists are forced to grind out their stories in a hurry; they should be given time to sleep on the stories, at least once, so that it can marinate in their uncon- scious. • On the press: I have been carrying on the greatest love affair of the twentieth century — with myself. The press has constantly tried to break up the af- fair. They have made me a legend through bad publicity. The nature of the press is to be hysterical. Peo- ple who don ' t write well enough to be novelists, inevitably turn to journalism. • On Marilyn Monroe (the subject of his most recent book): It ' s difficult to write about a modern personality, especially since I had never met Marilyn Monroe, but, nevertheless, she emerged for me as a character. There had been a great deal of bad evidence about her death, par- ticularly about the autopsy. If I had written that she committed suicide, my readers would have been much more satisfied. But there was a h uge question in my mind about her death, and based upon the evi- dence at hand and my professional instincts, I made some guesses about it. In certain instances, fiction is more valuable than facts. I tried to recapture in this book a bit of the magic which surrounded Marilyn. She was a girl who captured the imagination of the world, a girl who was something altogether new. • On one of his brilliant ideas: In celebration of my fiftieth birthday, I unveiled one of my more brilliant ideas. Unfortunately I in- troduced it to an audience of surly paying guests. Needless to say, it was not well received. Later my idea did catch on, and it is in effect at this moment. I have established an intelligence-gathering group of citizens, similar to the F.B.I. and C.I.A., which is probing into the mysteries of American life. Present- ly the Watergate affair is being scrutinized. • On Watergate: My theory is that the Watergate hotel was actually the scene of an intelligence war. Several govern- ment agencies were in the habit of bugging each other, and the Water- gate was redlined as a trouble spot. This is one of the reasons for the prompt arrival of the police. With expert investigation, the whole plan could be uncovered in a short time. Pursuing the subject of politics. Mailer discussed the condition of the democratic party, Ted Ken- nedy ' s chances for a presidential nomination, and the strong possi- bility of George Wallace winning the presidency in ' 76. As the evening progressed. Mailer became less defensive and considerably more mellow. Over coffee, he spoke of his own literary tastes and the process of writing fiction. He also graced the audience with a reading of his poetry. The pieces were light and whimsical and Mailer delivered them with drama- tic effect. As his stormy reputation indi- cates, Mailer is not one to capture the hearts of his audience. On this occasion it was clear that he did im- press them with his singular genius. NORMAN MAILER critic at large by Bridget Nolan 14

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JOHN LEE HOOKER by Dorothy Monomy A black hat and leather jacket flashed in the lights as John Lee Hooker took his place. He sat down, picked up his guitar and grinned. He sang the blues with a wide variety of intonations and a seriousness that is unequaled among most contemporary singers. Hooker played hard and sang rough-his voice ranged from low grating growls to soft moans. His songs reflected the old, slow moving blues and earlie boogie music. The words are reminiscent of his hard life and difficult rise to fame. His style of performing built up an intense emotional pressure with a minimum of words and simple, melodic rhythmic motifs. By the end of this relatively short concert, John Lee had the audience on its feet clapping and boogie-in ' with the Hook. Hooker is legendary for he is an itinerant soul. A body who strayed from the Gulf of Mexico, from Corpus Christi to Brownsville, to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and plenty of area in between. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi he was first taught by his grandfather to pick out harmony on strips of inner tube nailed in different tensions to the barn door. John Lee Hooker is not analytic about his music except to say, Any way you take them the blues are sure not dying. They ' re a steady roller; but you can ' t study up on them to sing them. You got to study up on people. I can be laying on the bed and something will come to me of what I ' ve seen. I ' ll get up get my guitar and I ' ll make a blues telling what I feel. The blues are what you know. And John Lee Hooker knows a lot about hard living. 16