Ancient Evenings: A Novel

By Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer’s dazzlingly rich, deeply evocative novel of ancient Egypt breathes life into the figures of a lost era: the eighteenth-dynasty Pharaoh Rameses and his wife, Queen Nefertiti; Menenhetet, their creature, lover, and victim; and the gods and mortals that surround them in intimate and telepathic communion. Mailer’s reincarnated protagonist is carried through the exquisite gardens of the royal harem, along the majestic flow of the Nile, and into the terrifying clash of battle. An extraordinary work of inventiveness, Ancient Evenings lives on in the mind long after the last page has been turned.
 
Praise for Ancient Evenings
 
“Astounding, beautifully written . . . a leap of imagination that crosses three millennia to Pharaonic Egypt.”—USA Today
 
“Mailer makes a miraculous present out of age-deep memories, bringing to life the rhythms, the images, the sensuousness of a lost time.”—The New York Times
 
“Mailer’s Egypt is a haunting and magical place. . . . The reader wallows in the scope, depth, the sheer magnitude and—yes—the fertility of his imagination.”—The Washington Post Book World
 
“An enormous pyramid of a novel [reminiscent of] Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow and Carlos Fuentes’s Terra Nostra.”—Los Angeles Herald Examiner
 
Praise for Norman Mailer
 
“[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.”—The New York Times
 
“A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.”—The New Yorker
 
“Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.”—The Washington Post
 
“A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life
 
“Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.”—The New York Review of Books
 
“The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.”—The Cincinnati Post

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9780812986075

Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is widely regarded as one of the finest American novels of the twentieth century. Among Norman Mailer's other achievements are Why Are We in Vietnam?, The Armies of the Night, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1968, and The Executioner's Song, which won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize.

Reviews for Ancient Evenings

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A startling work of creative imagination.

Norman Mailer - love him or hate him - had a mastery of the language that very few could rival. It is apparent in all his works, including "Ancient Evenings", which takes place at a variety of Egyptian locales, from royal dinners to family barge rides, from distant mining camps to tombs. Much of the story is told in flashback, much of it recited by a ponderous old man. The highlights of the book are:
a) Mailer's immense knowledge of the age. I adored Ancient Egypt as a study topic when a student, and still I'm not sure how much of this is verified/historically theorised truth, and how much is Mailer's imagination. Either way, he creates a world in which every cultural nuance and spoken idiosyncracy feels foreign and yet genuine;
b) That sense of magic - speculative fiction, I guess we'd call it now - that allows us never to be sure what is real, without ever succumbing to the dreaded "fantasy"; and
c) yes, it is true: Mailer's ability to tell those lecherous tales while rarely coming across as just a perv.

As others have said, this book will beguile or disgust: sodomy and incest (sometimes both!) are high on the agenda, and Mailer is as unapologetic as his characters.

I would never call this book my favourite, not by a long shot: like many works, I appreciate it as much intellectually as I do viscerally. For instance, Menenhetet speaks using a lot of similes and analogies, often quite ponderously. It makes reading this book a tougher experience than one would like, but this is a genuine part of the character and his culture, not a flaw in Mailer's writing.

In the end, this is a work that won't speak to anyone. It's highly idiosyncratic, explores many abstract or challenging themes, and takes no pains to explain itself until it feels the time is right. However, by the same token, the novel refuses to pander to cliche or the simple answers, and is one of those amazing books where - by the time you're reading the final chapters - you realise how strange and incomprehensible they would be to the uninitiated, yet they make perfect sense to you. "Ancient Evenings" makes you work for your reward, and in this case the reward is a fantastic and unsettling portrayal of life in Egypt under the Pharaohs, and of a world so far removed from our own. The final chapter is startlingly beautiful, and puts my previous favourite literary ending - that of "The Great Gatsby" - to shame. Lovely.

[weezela · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I recently completed my 4th or 5th re-reading of this book. My familiarity with the characters and their environments allowed for an enriched reading experience and did not detract in any way. Mailer wrote with such precision and care that I expect to have an even deeper experience the next time I pick this book out of my shelves. Like Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer often elaborates on a specific subject for pages or even entire chapters, but because I am so immersed in the world he has created, I find that level of detail illuminating.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A bit of a snore for me. I found myself skimming large chunks of what I found to be tediously boring. I think there have been better books written about Egypt and the pharaohs.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ancient Egypt is not an area where I have much background, so this book is rated almost purely on its entertainment value. It wasn't more than entertaining. Mr. Mailer continues his quest for a definition of manhood that will allow him to feel good.

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Oh, what the fuck, Norman. You've completely lost it.

I respected The Naked and the Dead very much. A true epic of the Pacific War, no question. This is something by a different person entirely. Now, in his later career, he just seems to be fascinated with shit - literally. The historical novel about Hitler seemed to have too much rambling rants about piss in it. I refuse to read too much into his personal life, but this almost seems fetishistic.

Aside from that, I've always had a fascination for the mythology and history of Ancient Egypt, and it takes special effort to make this seem boring. What a waste.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not for the faint of heart and take plenty of liquids. Evokes well the time of the pharoahs and the carnality at times excessive ring true.

[weezla · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I recently completed my 4th or 5th re-reading of this book. My familiarity with the characters and their environments allowed for an enriched reading experience and did not detract in any way. Mailer wrote with such precision and care that I expect to have an even deeper experience the next time I pick this book out of my shelves. Like Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer often elaborates on a specific subject for pages or even entire chapters, but because I am so immersed in the world he has created, I find that level of detail illuminating.

[912greens · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you like the word "phallus", then this is the book for you. (Actually, this novel was kinda interesting from the historical/mythological perspective.)

[antares1_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I hated this book. I didn't even finish it, and I normally finish a book no matter how bad it is.