That Sound Isn't Norman Mailer Spinning in His Grave

He’s probably laughing.

Not that the conception of Adolf Hitler was ever going to make for a comforting read by the fire, but the explicit rendition of the incestuous encounter between the evil bastard’s parents has won the late Norman Mailer one of the worlds most unsavory literary prizes.

Since 1993 by the Literary Review, a London literary journal has been handing out the “Bad Sex in Fiction” award. The rationale of the award is to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it". :. The award was originally established by Rhoda Koenig, a literary critic, and Auberon Waugh, then editor of the Literary Review.

The excerpt that won the award is from Mailer’s last work of fiction, The Castle in the Forest. It is the story of Adolf Hitler's childhood as seen through the eyes of Dieter, a demon sent to put him on his destructive path. The novel explores the idea that Hitler had no Jewish heritage but was the product of incest. It forms a thematic contrast with the writer’s immediately previous novel The Gospel According to the Son (1997), which deals with the early life of Jesus.

Okay-interesting concept. I have to admit that I’ve not read it yet. And frankly, it will be on the “books I should really read, but probably won’t” book stack for the next decade or so. Just isn’t my oeuvre.

The excerpt is taken from one of Mailer's last works, "The Castle in the Forest," a fictionalized exploration of Hitler's family, narrated by a demon. In the passage, the demon describes the moment Adolf is conceived, as Klara embraces Alois, a man the novel says was her uncle, "with an avidity that could come only from the Evil One." The winning passage, which leaves little to the imagination, begins: "So Klara turned head to foot and put her most unmentionable part down on his hard-breathing nose and mouth and took his old battering ram into her lips."

Not that this isn’t bad enough-but think about it Hilter now. Shudder.

Others shortlisted for the prize include Christopher Rush, whose book "Will" offers a firsthand account of a sex between William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway. The bard praises his wife's anatomy in excruciating detail.

One of my personal favorite authors also was tapped for work. Jeannette Winterson was picked for her awkward love scene in "The Stone Gods," involving a woman and a robot. Oh Jeanette. You’re too good for this-what where you thinking dear?

So, what would Mailer think of all of this to-do? Frankly, he’d probably either kick some ass or just have a really, really big scotch, show up crocked and take it like a man. Either way, I’d have loved to have seen either reaction.