Writer Normal Mailer talks about religion, abortion, Clinton

One of the literary greats of the 20th century gave a lively and humorous speech to a gathering of 500 people Sunday night in Center City at the Gershwin Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association. Norman Mailer, a Harvard graduate and Pulitzer Prize winner, was the keynote speaker of this year's Jewish Book Festival, which is sponsored by the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Philadelphia. Although the topic of the speech was religion, Mailer spoke about a wide variety of controversial issues including the Clinton sex scandal and abortion. "Bill Clinton has done more to ruin the Democratic party than any other president I can remember," Mailer said. "He's a psychopath. You know he's a psychopath because he's more believable when he lies than when he tells the truth." Mailer suggested that the reason politicians these days are so ineffective is because they have to spend so much time fundraising. "It is obscene for lawmakers to have to go out and raise money," he said. "Politics has become analogous to a man or woman who marries a rich person, and that person does everything the rich spouse demands," Mailer suggested. He phrased his stance on abortion in religious terms. "A woman has a right to kill before anyone else does. Maybe God doesn't want the child born. We are each arguing about a different kind of God," he said, explaining that while pro-life advocates use God as part of their argument against abortion, pro-choice advocates can use God in their argument as well. Mailer does believe that all living things, including unborn fetuses, possess a "spirit." "Once in Mexico high on marijuana, I saw plants dancing to a jazz band," Mailer explained. "I knew from then on that even flowers are alive and full of spirit." Mailer also made predictions regarding society in the 21st century. "We are entering an extraordinary period of great expansion and malaise," commented Mailer. "The first evidence [for this] is architecture. Modern architecture is a great crime," he added. "Who asked for these bland corporate skyscrapers?" Mailer discussed literary topics as well as politics, art and literature. "I was talking about the death of the novel three or four years ago, but there has been a flurry of good books in the past year." He tempered his enthusiasm by adding, "I hate cheap bestseller novels that are manipulative." Reaction to the speech was decisively positive. Beverly Rosen, a JCC spokesperson, said that "Mailer's presentation was thoughtful and provocative and timely and certainly appealed to our diverse audience." Engineering and Wharton junior Michael Rosenthal said he found the "speech both entertaining and insightful. He speaks as well as he writes." "He is quite a character," added Rosenthal. After the speech, Mailer took pictures with fans and signed copies of his latest book, A Time of Our Time, an anthology of five decades of writing. Mailer was just the first of several dozen speakers planned for the Jewish Book Festival. Other writers scheduled to speak this week include Elliot Abrams and Aharon Appelfeld.