Naked and the Dead - Softcover

Norman Mailer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805005218 ISBN 13: 9780805005219

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co (P), 1981

Synopsis

Reissue of a modern classic -- the book that catapulted Norman Mailer to fame on its first publication in 1948. Based on Mailer's own experience of military service in the Philippines during World War Two, 'The Naked and the Dead' is a graphically truthful and shattering portrayal of ordinary men in battle. First published in 1949, as America was still basking in the glories of the Allied victory, it altered forever the popular perception of warfare. Focusing on the experiences of a fourteen-man platoon stationed on a Japanese-held island in the South Pacific during World War II, and written in a journalistic style, it tells the moving story of the soldiers' struggle to retain a sense of dignity amidst the horror of warfare, and to find a source of meaning in their lives amisdst the sounds and fury of battle.

About this title

About the Author:

In addition to thirty-one works of fiction and nonfiction, Norman Mailer has written numerous poems and essays, as well as directed and appeared in motion pictures. His new collection of essays, The Time of Our Time, will be published in May 1998. He lives in New York.

Review:

Novel by Norman Mailer. Published in 1948, the book was hailed as one of the finest American novels to come out of World War II. The story concerns a platoon of 13 American soldiers who are stationed on the Japanese-held island of Anopopei in the Pacific. With almost journalistic detail, Mailer records the lives of men at war, characterizing the soldiers individually in flashbacks that illuminate their past. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co (P)
• Publication date: 1981
• ISBN 10: 0805005218
• ISBN 13: 9780805005219
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 721