Part I, Chapters 1-4 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1 is an introduction to the author Norman Mailer, written in the form of a Time Magazine article from October 27, 1967. In the article, Mailer gets arrested for crossing a police line, apparently intoxicated. The scene seems chaotic, and the chapter ends by inviting the reader to read on in order to find out what happened.

Chapter 2 takes place in Mailer's den. The telephone rings, and Mailer debates at length about whether or not to pick it up. Although he detests the telephone, he deigns to pick it up once in a while. The caller is an author by the name of Mitchell Goodman. Goodman and Mailer have known each other for a long time. They grew up in the same area, graduated from Harvard at about the same time, and even spent time together in...