norman mailer, a bull-headed yet often refreshingly frank sometime homophobe, sometime friend to gays, a 'man's man' back when the expression meant something different, died early this morning at age 84.
his brash macho manner often seemed linked (a la hemingway) to ambivalence about homoeroticism + a cultish fascination with masculinity.
in the 1950s he published his largely sympathetic essay 'the homosexual villain' in the pioneer homosexual magazine 'one' + later republished it in his book 'advertisement for myself.'
some mailer quotes:
'there is probably no sensitive heterosexual alive who is not preoccupied with his latent homosexuality.'
'masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. + you gain it by winning small battles with honor.'
'america is a hurricane, + the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid + smug white protestants who live in the center, in the serene eye of the big wind.'
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