CASTLE IN THE FOREST, THE

　　No career in modern American letters is at once so brilliant,varied, and controversial as that of Norman Mailer. In a span ofmore than six decades, Mailer has searched into subjects rangingfrom World War II to Ancient Egypt, from the march on the Pentagonto Marilyn Monroe, from Henry Miller and Mohammad Ali to JesusChrist. Now, in The Castle in the Forest, his first majorwork of fiction in more than a decade, Mailer offers what may behis consummate literary endeavor: He has set out to explore theevil of Adolf Hitler.　　The narrator, a mysterious SS man who is later revealed to be anexceptional presence, gives us young Adolf from birth, as well asHitler’s father and mother, his sisters and brothers, and theintimate details of his childhood and adolescence.　　A tapestry of unforgettable characters, The Castle in theForest delivers its playful twists and surprises withastonishing insight into the nature of the struggle between goodand evil that exists in us all. At its core is a hypothesis thatpropels this novel and makes it a work of stunning originality.Now, on the eve of his eighty-fourth birthday, Norman Mailer maywell be saying more than he ever has before.