Portrayal of things as they are in Mailer's novel (7)
I believe the answer is:
realism
'portrayal of things as they are' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.
'mailer's novel' is the wordplay.
'novel' indicates an anagram (letters in a new or novel order).
'mailers' is an anagram of 'REALISM'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for realism that I've seen before include "Representation in an accurate and true to life way" , "Non-abstract artistic style" , "True-to-life quality" , "Art genre that is true to life" , "Unromantic view of the world" .)