Also in the Brooklyn Eagle today is Dwayne Raymond’s article “A Final Report from Mailer’s Desk.” His remembrance of Norman Mailer is told from Mailer’s study in his Provincetown house, giving insights into his writing practices, the significance of the decor, and his composition of The Castle in the Forest
I know there are a million writers who would kill to sit where I am sitting as I write this but I have paid a large price to be here. We spent so many hours up here working together and banking memories that I cannot now find them all. But I can balance that loss by touching his desk and magically hearing his gravelly greeting of, “Good morning, pal.” Indeed, there is more to being here than merely sensing his ghostly presence: his oils, his cells, melded with this old wood desk as he worked. He left a part of himself here, literally, as he struck the edge of it with his hand while he wrote, distilling the rhythm of his style.
