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Why Mailer Matters: Three Reasons

Mailer was the most important public intellectual in the American literary world for over 30 years, and along with other figures such as William Buckley, Saul Bellow, Gore Vidal and Susan Sontag, helped establish the creative writer as important a commentator as politicians, pundits and professors.

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Mike Lennon to the TLS

Mike Lennon to the TLS

I don’t wish to prolong the discussion about Norman Mailer’s wartime experience, but as his authorized biographer (forthcoming, Simon and Schuster), I believe I can clarify Clive James’s comments on the matter in his recent letter (July 16). During the last year of the Pacific war, Mailer served in several capacities in the 112th Regimental [...]

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Mailer Biography Goes to Simon & Schuster

The New York Observer reports today that Simon & Schuster will be publishing the biography of Norman Mailer currently being penned by Mailer’s friend, long-time associate, and Society president J. Michael Lennon. Mike Lennon has been working on this biography for some time; he states: I have been collecting material for this biography almost from [...]

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A Sampling of Letters

The New Yorker published a sampling of letters by Norman Mailer that they call “In the Ring: Grappling with the Twentieth Century“: From his service in the Second World War until not long before his death, last year, Mailer in his correspondence tirelessly addressed the political themes of his time. Here’s a sample, from a [...]

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