An Epic Procedure
Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100, ed. Gerald R. Lucas and Maggie McKinley (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 72; transcribed from the final interior PDF
From Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100 (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 72.
""On a rainy fall night Danielle and I made the trek to visit her father at Mass General Hospital in Boston. This was right after open heart surgery. Expecting a somber meeting we went to his room prepared for the worst. The dread we anticipated soon turned to amazement as we arrived at his bedside. Norman was holding court with the nurses and in jubilant spirits. He was eager to share with us his epiphany. You see,” he said, “my chest was cut open but I didn’t die.” He waited a moment and launched. “I feel like Agamemnon. My injury is not that different from being struck by a sword. I keep thinking this is what ancient warriors felt as they received mortal wounds. The difference is mine was inflicted and controlled to help me, but I was brought to near death nonetheless.” He continued to relate his ordeal to a mighty warrior from long ago and conjure up images of an ancient city state under siege.
Norman was elated at this discovery and it gave him a power and life-affirming force that was palpable to us and the nursing staff. He compared his experience to that of men in battle, and delved into their psyches as they might have felt laying wounded and dying. This transformed a sobering medical procedure into a sword wielding fight, rife with realizations of the victor and the fallen. The only thing missing was lamb, roasted to a turn,” but alas just hospital fare was served.
Peter McEachern