Conference 2026

From Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Mailer in 1976

Mailer receives the National Arts Club's Gold Medal for Literature in February. He publishes two books — Some Honorable Men (April), gathering his four convention narratives, and Genius and Lust (October), his Henry Miller anthology and his longest piece of literary criticism. He profiles Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia, writes 'A Harlot High and Low' (the seed of Harlot's Ghost), wins a Playboy fiction award for the screenplay 'Trial of the Warlock,' and keeps grinding away at the Egyptian novel.

1. 25 FebruaryMailer received the National Arts Club's Medal of Honor for Literature (its Gold Medal) at a New York banquet, reported in "Book Ends" (76.1). Two days earlier the Harvard Advocate and the Signet Society had presented him at Sanders Theater.
2. 18 March“Set Theory”. A poem in the New York Review of Books.
3. 28 March“Henry Miller: Celebrating a Cause Celebre”. An essay on Henry Miller in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, drawn from the manuscript of Genius and Lust.
4. 1 AprilLittle, Brown published Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960–1972 (76.5), gathering Mailer's four convention narratives with a new preface, dedicated "to the memory of my father." The two Henry Miller essays (76.3, 76.4) appeared the same season, trailing the book to come; Mailer spoke at West Point (76.5a) and at the 1976 National Book Awards (76.8).
5. 26 April“Mailer Talks about Mailer, Heroes, Women”. A Times Herald Record report on Mailer's West Point appearance, where he spoke of bravery and current politics, calling JFK the romantic hero the country needed.
6. April“Henry Miller: Genius and Lust, Narcissism”. An essay excerpted from the Genius and Lust manuscript, published in American Review with a cover portrait of Mailer.
7. April“The State of the Art of Alger Hiss”. A Harper's feature polling 104 people on the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss; Mailer voted 'undecided.'
8. 3 May“Do Writers Ride in Cadillacs?”. A Village Voice report on the 1976 National Book Awards ceremony, at which Mailer, the featured speaker, spoke on the psychological struggles of writers.
9. 24 May“Mailer and the Siege of Rome”. A New York magazine piece on Mailer's screenwriting for Sergio Leone (a script from The Hoods), which ended in a court fight over payment.
10. May“Norman Mailer on Women, Love, Sex, Politics, and All That!”. A Cosmopolitan self-interview — Mailer wrote the questions — on marriage, sex, Women's Liberation, drinking and marijuana, television, and his novel-in-progress.
11. 16 August“A Harlot High and Low: Reconnoitering through the Secret Government”. A New York magazine essay on the CIA, Watergate, and the assassination of JFK — the origin of the novel Harlot's Ghost; cover photograph of Mailer.
12. 26 September“The Search for Carter”. Mailer's New York Times Magazine cover story on Jimmy Carter, written after traveling to Plains, Georgia to interview the presidential candidate.
13. OctoberGenius and Lust: A Journey through the Major Writings of Henry Miller. Mailer's anthology of Henry Miller's writing with 88 pages of his own commentary — his lengthiest piece of literary criticism. Grove, October 1976; jacket drawing of Miller by Norris Church Mailer.
14. October“Preface to The Presidential Papers”. Mailer's new preface to the Berkley softcover reissue of The Presidential Papers (1963), which the first edition lacked.
15. November“Preface to The Deer Park”. Mailer's 250-word preface to the Berkley softcover reissue of The Deer Park; he had said his piece in the 'Fourth Advertisement for Myself,' reprinted in the same edition.
16. 10 December“Mailer Takes on the Heavyweight Novel”. Herbert Mitgang's New York Times interview on Mailer's novel-in-progress, with his generous comment on Saul Bellow's Nobel, awarded the same day.
17. 13 DecemberOn 13 December he read at the 92nd Street Y (76.19).
18. 20 December“New Yorkers, etc.”. Charlotte Curtis's New York Times report on a 14 December party for Richard and Doris Kearns Goodwin at Mailer's Brooklyn Heights apartment, with a brief Mailer quote.
19. December“A Conversation between Norman Mailer and John Ehrlichman: The CIA and Watergate”. Mailer's three-page introduction and a transcript of his conversation with John Ehrlichman on the CIA and Watergate, in Chic magazine.
20. December“Preface to Advertisements for Myself”. Mailer's preface to the Berkley softcover reissue of Advertisements for Myself, which the first edition lacked; reprinted as 'An Advertisement Advertised.'
21. DecemberTrial of the Warlock. Mailer's screenplay adaptation of J. K. Huysmans's 1891 novel La-Bas, published in Playboy, which gave it that year's award for best major work of fiction (tied with Vonnegut's Slapstick).

Read 1976 in Works and Days