I've been trying to put together a book about California fiction in the 1950s. That's has caused me to revise some of my previous comments by adding information about the authors and details about the books. Here's an example: Norman Mailer (1923-2007) was one of the most famous literary figures of the twentieth century. In addition to eleven novels, he wrote poems, screenplays, political reportage, autobiographies, and dozens of magazine and journal articles. Mailer came to Hollywood after the success of The Naked and the Dead (1948) to write for the movies and gather material for a Hollywood novel. Apparently, neither the work nor the locale did much to inspire him. The Deer Park was such a critical failure that Mailer did not try another novel for eleven years. Even so, it is available today in more than 800 libraries in the United States and 300 more overseas. So it deservedly wins my award as the most overrated California novel of the 1950s.
The Deer Park by Norman Mailer. Putnam (1955), 375 pp.
A former Air Force pilot, sometimes called Sergius O’Shaugnessy, arrives in a desert resort community after the Korean War hoping to end a spell of sexual impotence. There he meets various displaced Hollywood types. The group includes Dorothea O’Faye, a wealthy former showgirl and gossip columnist who presides over a “court” of hangers-on; Marion Faye, her resentful son and small-time pimp; oil magnate Martin Pelley, her current boyfriend; Jennings James, her publicity man from twenty-five years before; and Charles Eitel, a washed-up director fighting the blacklist. As the story continues, they and others O’Shaugnessy meets become involved in diverse sexual interludes.
This was Mailer’s third novel and the one that presumably inspired him to become an essayist and literary personality. He seems to trying to show the dissipation of those connected to the movie business by chronicling their sexual relationships. None of the characters is sympathetic or especially interesting. Their affairs are more tedious than exciting. Adding to readers’ detachment is Mailer’s use of O’Shaugnessy as the first person narrator. He puts nothing resembling excitement in his recounting of events. In addition, he is often telling stories second-hand or simply making them up from sources he could not know. Mailer fans may have some interest in this book. Others should probably look elsewhere for a serious Hollywood novel.