as noted in his introduction to its Fiftieth Anniversary Edition. Mailer states his writing inspiration came from the great Russian novelists like Leo Tolstoy. While writing, Mailer often read "from Anna Karenina most mornings before he commenced his own work." Mailer believed Tolstoy enabled him to bring compassion to his pages; Tolstoy taught him "compassion is valueless without severity." Mailer was convinced he brought this compassion to The Naked and the Dead, and it is what enabled a 25-year-old to write an incredible war novel. Throughout his writing process, Mailer explained, he "used to write twenty-five pages of first draft a week," which allowed his novel to flow from page to page. Mailer felt this novel was the easiest for him to write, as he finished it quickly and passionately. He later stated, "Part of me thought it was possibly the greatest book written since War and Peace." Despite the author’s self-praise, he acknowledged his writing immaturity within the novel. Mailer insisted "it was sloppily written in many parts (the words came too quickly and too easily) and there was hardly a noun in any sentence that was not holding hands with the nearest and most commonly available adjective." However, despite this criticism, Mailer believed the book deserved to be a best seller. It was written with vigor and contained acute descriptiveness which enabled readers to imagine what World War II was really like. Mailer admitted that he still returned to The Naked and the Dead occasionally and reread passages because they gave him hope “for all of us.” Character that represents Mailer: Mailer stated he did not portray himself as one of the characters. However, he mentions the character of Roth is the most similar to himself. He states Roth's experiences within the novel closely resembled his own experiences in WWII, especially in comparison to the other characters. This similarity is also evident in how they are both Jewish but don't necessarily strongly declare being Jewish. "Fug" The publishers of The Naked and the Dead prevented Mailer from using the word "fuck" in his novel and had to use the euphemism "fug" instead. Mailer's version of a subsequent incident follows: The word has been a source of great embarrassment to me over the years because, you know, Tallulah Bankhead's press agent, many years ago, got a story in the papers which went..."Oh, hello, you're Norman Mailer," said Tallulah Bankhead