I no longer gave a sick dog's drop for the wisdom, the reliability and the authority of the public's literary mind, those creeps and old ladies of vested reviewing.
Norman MailerRead
Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects a deep sense of existential confusion and impending suffering.
Norman Mailer's quote expresses a state of intense inner turmoil and existential questioning. The speaker grapples with the confusion of identity and the anticipation of overwhelming pain, suggesting a profound struggle with self-awareness and the human experience of suffering, hinting that the future holds challenges that may surpass any previously known struggle.
Themes
IdentityPainExistentialismSufferingSelf-Awareness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal struggles and identity, you might say, 'As Norman Mailer once expressed, I do not know who I am...'
More from Norman Mailer
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At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.
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Alimony is the curse of the writing class.
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