Mailer on Innocence and Evil

Leafing through a back issue of Provincetown Arts I came across this intriguing statement from the volcanic literary giant Norman Mailer. Reflecting on his experience directing his film Tough Guys Don't Dance, he observed: "Only the innocent can portray evil. It has been my experience that evil people do their best to conceal what is evil in themselves. Only the natural and the innocent will have no hesitation in searching for that delicate bit of what is wrong and corrupt in themselves and feel no hesitation about expanding that mote of the impure into a full-blown performance."