Biographies

Biographies of Mailer, and the memoirs, profiles, and reminiscences by those who knew him.

Register · First Editions · Key Texts for Mailer Studies · Bibliographies · Biographies · Criticism · Cultural Backgrounds

Biographies of Mailer, and the memoirs, profiles, and reminiscences of people who knew him: wives and children, friends and rivals, editors and collaborators. The notes give the entries in Works and Days that each one bears on.

A B C D F G H J K L M N P R S T U V W

A

Aldrich, Nelson W., Jr., editor. George, Being George. New York: Random House, 2008-10-21. register See 77.13.
Atlas, James. “Life with Mailer.” New York Times Magazine, 1979-09-09. excerpt · rights pending register See 79.9.

B

Baldwin, James. “The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy.” Esquire, 1961-05, 102–06. register Rpt: Lucid (1971), Braudy (1972). See 57.1.
Brower, Brock. “Norman.” Other Loyalties: A Politics of Personality, Atheneum, 1968, 105–137. register See 65.20.

C

Christian, Frederick. “The Talent and the Torment.” Cosmopolitan, 1963-08, 63–67. register See 63.34.
Cohen, Marcia. “Town Bloody Hall.” The Sisterhood: The True Story of the Women Who Changed the World, Simon and Schuster, 1988, 288–306. register See 71.20.
Cook, Bruce. The Beat Generation. New York: Scribner's, 1971, 93–98, 168–169. register See 61.4.
Cook, Bruce. “Mailer: A Maverick Who Became... Aquarius Rex.” National Observer, 1972-11-04. register Rpt: Adams (1974). See 61.4.

D

Dearborn, Mary V. Mailer: A Biography. Houghton Mifflin, 1999-12-09. register See 99.8.
Denby, David. “Life and Letters: The Contender.” New Yorker, 1998-04-20. excerpt · rights pending register Excellent profile. See 98.3.

F

Flaherty, Joe. Managing Mailer. New York: Coward-McCann, 1970. register Account of Mailer’s 1969 campaign for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York by his campaign manager. See 70.7.

G

Greer, Germaine. “My Mailer Problem.” The Madwomen’s Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986, 78–89. register Rpt: Bloom (1986). See 71.27.

H

Hamill, Pete. “Norman Mailer.” American Rebels, Nation Books, 2003, 1–6. register See 61.22a, 95.44.
“Harvard: America’s Great University Now Leads World.” Life, 1941-05, 89–99. Journalistic sketch, with many photographs, appearing at the end of Mailer’s sophomore year.
Hayden, Hiram. Words and Faces. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974, 234–235, 263–264. register Comment on the rejection of The Deer Park (55.4) by Random House.

J

Johnston, Glenn T., editor. We Ain’t No Heroes: the 112th Cavalry in World War II. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2005.
Jones, Kaylie. Lies My Mother Never Told Me. New York: William Morrow, 2009. register See 99.2.

K

Knox, Mickey. The Good, the Bad, and the Dolce Vita: The Adventures of an Actor in Hollywood, Paris, and Rome. New York: Nation Books, 2004. register See 67.13, 04.4.
Krim, Seymour. Shake It for the World Smartass. New York: Dial, 1970, 89–99, 111–119, 125–151. register Three essays on Mailer’s powerful presence in the literary world. See 61.23.

L

Land, Myrick. “Mr. Norman Mailer Challenges All the Talent in the Room.” The Fine Art of Literary Mayhem: A Lively Account of Famous Writers and Their Feuds, Lexikos, 1983, 228–244. register See 63.40.
Lennon, J. Michael. “Norman Mailer.” Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, Volume 6: Broadening Views, 1968-1988, Bruccoli Clark Layman/Gale Research, 1989, 162–168. register
Lennon, J. Michael. Norman Mailer: A Double Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013-10-15. register Authorized biography. See 13.2.
Lucid, Robert F. “Prolegomenon to a Biography of Mailer.” Critical Essays on Norman Mailer, G. K. Hall, 1986, 174–184. register See 71.29.

M

Macdonald, Dwight. “Massachusetts vs. Mailer.” Discriminations: Essays and Afterthoughts, Grossman, 1985, 194–209. register Preface by Norman Mailer. Rpt: Lucid (1971). See 60.8, 83.57.
Mailer, Adele. The Last Party: Scenes from My Life with Norman Mailer. New York: Barricade Books, 1997. register Memoir by Mailer’s second wife. See 97.11.
Mailer, Norman; Breslin, Jimmy; et al. Running against the Machine: A Grass Roots Race for the New York Mayoralty. 1969-08. register See 69.80.
Mailer, Norman. “In the Ring: Grappling with the Twentieth Century.” The New Yorker, 2008-10-06, 50–63. full text register A sampling of Mailer's letters. See 08.1.
Mailer, Norman, editor. Selected Letters of Norman Mailer. New York: Random House, 2014-12-02. register 714 letters, 1941–2007, with biographical summaries by decade. See 14.3.
Mallory, Carole. Loving Mailer. 2009. register See 95.34.
Manso, Peter. Mailer: His Life and Times. Simon and Schuster, 1985. register Oral biography. See 85.13.
Martien, Norman. “Norman Mailer at Graduate School or, One Man’s Effort.” New American Review, No. 1, New American Library, 1967, 233–241. register Account of a Mailer university visit. Rpt: Lucid (1971).
Menand, Louis. “The Norman Invasion: the Crazy Career of Norman Mailer.” New Yorker, 2013-10-21, 86–95. register
Mills, Hilary. Mailer: A Biography. Empire Books, 1982-11. register First book-length biography. See 82.23.
Morris, Willie. New York Days. New York: Little, Brown, 1993. register See 71.10.

N

Newfield, Jack. “On the Steps of a Zeitgeist.” Bread and Roses Too: Reporting About America, Dutton, 1971, 385–390. register Rpt: Lennon (1986). See 68.10.

P

Pell, Edward. “His Childhood Was a Happy Time: Norman Mailer Remembers Long Branch.” Daily Register, 1966-12-12. register See 66.15
Plimpton, George. Shadow Box. New York: Putnam's, 1977. register See 77.13.
Plimpton, George, editor. Truman Capote: In Which Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1997. register See 01.3, 04.1.
Podhoretz, Norman. Making It. New York: Random House, 1967. register See 68.4.
Podhoretz, Norman. Ex-Friends. Free Press, 1999. register

R

Raymond, Dwayne. Mornings with Mailer: A Recollection of Friendship. New York: HarperCollins, 2010-01-26. register See 10.1.
Rembar, Charles. The Law of the Land: The Evolution of Our Legal System. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. register See 80.24.
Roddy, Joseph. “The Latest Model Mailer.” Look, 1969-05-27, 22–28. register Rpt: 88.6. See 69.43.
Rollyson, Carl. The Lives of Norman Mailer. Paragon House, 1991-10. register See 91.22.

S

Seaver, Edwin. So Far, So Good: Recollections of a Life in Publishing. Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill, 1986. register See 48.1.
Sokolov, Raymond A. “Flying High with Mailer.” Newsweek, 1968-12-09, 84–88. register See 68.29.
Soll, Rick. “Norman Mailer: A Man, an Artist, a Cultural Phenomenon.” Living, Chicago Sun-Times, 1983-08-07. register See 83.47.
Spencer, Scott. “The Old Man and the Novel.” New York Times Magazine, 1991-09-22. register See 91.10.
Stern, Richard G. “Report from the MLA.” New York Review of Books, 1966-02-17, 26–28. register See 66.7.

T

Toback, James. “At Play in the Fields of the Bored.” Esquire, 1968-12, 150–55. register Rpt: (partial) 71.28. See 68.28.
Trilling, Diana. “The Prisoner of Sex.” We Must March My Darlings: A Critical Decade, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1977, 199–210. register Rpt: Lennon (1986). See 77.14.
Truscott, Lucian K. “Mailer’s Birthday.” Village Voice, 1973-02-08, 1, 24–26. register See 73.6.

U

[unsigned]. “A Shaky Start.” Time, 1967-10-27. excerpt · rights pending register Brief, unfriendly description of Mailer speaking at the Ambassador Theater in Washington, D.C. prior to the March on the Pentagon. Mailer used it in the opening of The Armies of the Night (68.8).

V

Vidal, Gore. “Norman Mailer’s Self-Advertisements.” United States: Essays, 1952-1992, Random House, 1993, 31–40. register Rpt: Lucid (1971), Bloom (1986). See 60.3.
Vidal, Gore. Palimpsest: A Memoir. Random House, 1995. register See 77.4.

W

Weatherby, W. J. Squaring Off: Mailer vs. Baldwin. New York: Mason/Charter, 1977. register The Mailer-Baldwin rivalry is exaggerated in this largely derivative study, which nevertheless provides insights on their relationship.
Willingham, Calder. “The Way It Isn't Done: Notes on the Distress of Norman Mailer.” Esquire, 1963-12, 306–8. register Rpt: Lucid (1971). See 63.9.

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