London: Andre Deutsch, 1983 (Many editions extant) ISBN 0233955038
Wow. When this book was released it caused a big ripple in the book-reading world, and, nearly 70 years later it's pretty easy to see why. Mailer wanted to write the great novel of the War, and he came close. This is a great story, only marred by Mailer's quest to give it more gravitas than it needed, and by his youthfulness in outlook (he was only 25 when this book was released).
Mailer spent time in the Pacific in World War Two, and he has used that experience to construct the story of a platoon that is part of a force attacking a fictional island in the Pacific. Through a series of flashbacks we understand the lives of members of the platoon, and of some of the officers of the division, including the General, Cummings. The General plays psychological games with his adjutant, Lieutenant Hearn, and when he becomes bored with him puts him in charge of the platoon which he then sends on a dangerous reconaissance mission.
Mailer's use of chapters called "time machine", where he delves into the history of his characters one-by-one helps him build one of his major themes in the novel, which is the destiny not only of individual men, but the USA and mankind as a whole. Through the different characters in the book, we see hope, resignation, slyness, control, power and briefly friendship and even love.
Mailer is trying to create a grand system for the War, politics and life through these pages. This is the weakest part of this novel, as it feels a bit "stuck on", and, owing no doubt to Mailer's youth, some of the theories spouted in particular by Hearn and the General are facile and shallow. The standard socialist versus fascist arguments between Hearn and Cummings seem more like the wheels of Mailer's mind turning. The imaginings of the members of the platoon's previous lives sometimes also tend to the formulaic, but are still very readable, in a kind of Sinclair Lewis style. The focus on sex, and betrayal by women, was no doubt a geniune topic for Mailer, but for me it grates and verges on the unbelievable. It adds little to the book.
The futility of War is front and centre in this book. Despite the best plans of General Cummings, the battle is won by the plodding Major Dalleson while Cummings is away pleading for naval backup for his daring plan for an amphibious outflanking manoevre. It turns out that all his intelligence on the strength of the Japanese forces was incorrect. The scouting patrol that the platoon was sent on is therefore a waste of time.
It is in the story of the patrol that Mailer is at his best. The writing is gripping, and the tensions between the characters is palpable. The reader feels the pain, weariness and terror of being alone in unexplored territory that may be inhabited by a deadly enemy. We also see the naked exercise of power, that is much discussed earlier in the book by Cummings and Hearn. The realisation by Hearn that he enjoys power over other men is belated and disheartening for him, and the brutal control of the platoon by Croft fails to bring him the prize he seeks, and he ends the book a diminished character.
It is when the book gets lost in the description of soldiering that is has real power - when it comes back to theorizing and male-female relations it loses something. Mailer was reaching for the status of "great novel", both with his style and structure. He came close, and while he has not left us that great novel, this is a book that will resonate for some time with the reader, and builds into a gripping story.
Recommended.
Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell
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