“Anathema to the true angel in Heaven”: Norman Mailer’s Of a Fire on the Moon

Humankind no longer lives in the Edenic garden, for we have lost the beginning. Even the mechanical wonders of the man-made city are said to have been first built by Cain.

The question of whether technological progress inevitably breeds alienation from the presence of God merits deep consideration. For God’s fragile and freely spoken Word is threatened by those tempted to sacrifice the Word on the dehumanizing altar of technological progress. Renowned journalist and writer Norman Mailer observed this reality firsthand during his on-the-ground coverage of NASA’s mad 1969 race to reach the surface of the moon, in his prophetic, foreboding, long-winded, yet brilliant account of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Of a Fire on the Moon received divisive and mixed reviews from critics. First serialized in Life Magazine in 1969 and 1970, it is the longest non-fiction piece ever published by Life. In some ways, Mailer’s work is an early piece of Gonzo journalism, complete with detailed screeds against modernity and winding anecdotes about his place in an increasingly corporatized writing world. One critic interpreted Of a Fire on the Moon as representative of the decreased relevance attached to the Romantic view of literature.