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Section 1

Mailer accepts the assignment to write a piece for a book of Jon Nair's photos of graffiti. In an effort to overcome the "chore" of journalism, he takes on the persona of the "Aesthetic Investigator" or A-I. For the piece, A-I interviews the famous graffiti artists TAKI 183, CAY 161, and JUNIOR 161 and compares them to the famous Italian painter, Giotto. A-I then describes a Jewish joke in which a grandmother suggests that a picture of her grandchild is better looking than the actual child. A second story told by A-I describes an artist giving a pastel to a second artist who erases the image, signs his name to the blank canvas, and promptly sells it. Mailer does not like the original name for the book, Watching My Name Go By, for reasons including the fact that graffiti artists do not use their real names. In his interviews with the graffiti artists, he learns of the importance of "name". The artists are proud of having their names "all over the place" and especially in places that seem nearly impossible to access. The graffiti artists find importance in hitting with their names which means their names in effect "kill" whatever they are written over. The artist's names, says Cay, is the faith of graffiti

Section 2

A-I describes the steps that a graffiti artist goes through to hit with their names and their fear of being caught. A-I talks writes of "art in a criminal act" but these artists were "opposite to criminals". There was a time when there was hope that graffiti would cover all the ugliness of New York, but then the city declared war on graffiti with larger fines and bigger punishments. The graffiti movement appeared to be over.

With photographer Jon Naar, the A-I interviews more graffiti artists. He describes the “existential stations of the criminal act”: the process of “inventing” the paint, the clandestine travel, the fear that accompanies the act, and the verdant “profusion and harmony” that combatted the “high-rise horrors” with “wavelets of ego.” Now, the authorities have cracked-down on graffiti, and it seems as if the “impulse to cover the walled tombs of technology had been broken.”

• “There was always art in a criminal act.”
  • Graffiti artists lived through the crime to “commit an artistic act”
    • Very suggestive of WN
  • Art itself, NM suggests, is a subversive act
• “Collective therapy of grace exhibited under pressure”
  • combats the “assault on the psyche” of modern life
• Graffiti is described as a jungle to “save the sensuous flesh” from the homogeny of modern life
• “Comic strips come to life”
  • subway cars and metal were “their natural canvas”
  • suggests that this was the best place to cause the most challenge and provide the most fame for the graffiti artist

Reception draft:

When The Faith of Graffiti was re-issued in late 2009, the reviews were not positive. A February 2010 edition of the Chicago Art Magazine describes Mailer as "off the rails" and "bezerk". Book Forum Magazine also published a review that described The Faith of Graffiti as "half-brilliant, half mad." In March of 2010, a short article in The Atlantic uses the term "bombastic" to describe Mailer's essay.

http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2010/02/book-review-the-faith-of-graffiti/

https://www.bookforum.com/print/1605/in-the-1970s-graffiti-spread-through-new-york-and-beyond-5005

https://normanmailer.us/the-faith-of-graffiti-a-brief-exchange-c4aca77b6db5

bombastic - high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated. (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/03/the-faith-of-graffiti/37946/)

portentous - written in a overly solemn manner to impress people. inchoate - no fully developed, dull, laborius (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/harry-jerry-lucas-lorayne-2/the-faith-of-graffiti/

http://www.duncancumming.co.uk/article-Watching-My-Name-Go-By.cfm

1969 mailer runs unsuccessfully for mayor. p 338 Mailer: a Biography by Hillary Mills 1982

1969 run for mayor was against John Lindsay. mailer took his candidacy seriously while others did not.

Mailler Raised in Brooklyn p. 24 Mills 1982.

Lived in new york through 60's and 70's. Mills 1982 p. 23-24

The decade and a half prior to the writing of The Faith of Graffiti were unsettled times in New York City. Strikes shutdown the transit system and schools and stopped trash pickup. A 1969 snowstorm brought 15 inches of snow that paralyzed the city for many days. In 1970 construction workers and office workers marched against war protestors and peace marchers. Seventy people were injured in these "Hard Hat Riots" that lasted nearly two weeks. Vandalism, theft, and murders were so bad that "Welcome to Fear City" pamphlets were distributed to visitors. These pamphlets provided guidance on how to stay safe in New York City. A city financial crisis in the mid-70's resulted in neighborhoods in decay, roads in constant need of repair, and other infrastructure such as bridges being neglected. Some compared New York City to bombed out cities in Europe after World War II.

Norman Mailer was raised in Brooklyn and lived there during the turbulent 60's and 70's. In 1969 Mailer ran unsuccessfully for Mayor against the incumbent John Lindsay. Many saw Mailer's candidacy as a joke while he reportedly took it very seriously.

New York during the 60's and 70's..financial crisis in mid 70's. Fear City pamphlets distributed to visitors...pamphlets "Welcome to Fear City" and "A Survival Guide for Visitors to the city of New York." Inside were nine suggestions/clues on how to stay safe in new york. number of murders doubled from 65-75. everyone was concerned about their safety. roads in terrible condition, trash everywhere, vandalism was constant. neighborhoods were decaying and were compared to cities in europe involved in WW2. Infrastructure such as bridges were deflected. In 1975 new york has over a million welfare recipients.

riots in 1970 hard hat riots. construction workers and office workers marched through the streets of new york against the war protestors and peace marchers. 70 people were injured. the marches continued for two weeks. -