1988
Mailer works steadily on his CIA novel, Harlot's Ghost — more than 1,000 pages by year's end — and lets the public see its first pieces in advance excerpts in Esquire ('A Piece of Harlot's Ghost,' July) and Playboy ('The Changing of the Guard,' December). J. Michael Lennon's Conversations with Norman Mailer collects 34 of his interviews. In April Mailer endorses Jesse Jackson in a much-noticed New York Times op-ed; he also writes on Mike Tyson and publishes the first selection from his 1954–55 Lipton's journal.
The CIA novel takes shape
Through 1988 Mailer pressed on with the long novel about the CIA he had begun to discuss the year before — Harlot’s Ghost (91.26). By the time he spoke to the St. Paul Pioneer Press in October he was deep in it; he would tell interviewers in early 1989 he was past a thousand pages. The public got its first look in two advance excerpts: “A Piece of Harlot’s Ghost” in Esquire in July (88.5) — his first fiction for the magazine since An American Dream, with his photograph on the cover — describing the Maine rock-climbing of Hubbard and Harlot; and “The Changing of the Guard” in Playboy in December (88.11), an account of Hubbard’s affair with Chloe.
Conversations with Norman Mailer
On 31 July the University Press of Mississippi published Conversations with Norman Mailer (88.6), J. Michael Lennon‘s collection of 34 interviews — the standard source behind the register’s many “Rpt: 88.6” pointers, and a marker of Lennon’s growing role as Mailer’s archivist. The year’s notable interviews included Barry H. Leeds’s Connecticut Review conversation (88.1), in which Mailer gave his fullest account of abandoning the Ancient Evenings trilogy.
Politics, boxing, and the journal
In April Mailer published “Jackson Is a Friend of Life’s Victims” (88.2), a New York Times op-ed endorsing Jesse Jackson over Ed Koch’s objection and reflecting at length on Jewish-black relations. In May he tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the American Center of PEN to offer an honorary membership to Pope John Paul II, and was opposed by his successor as president, Susan Sontag (88.4). He explained Mike Tyson in a Spin essay (88.7), and published the first selection from his 1954–55 “Lipton’s” journal in Antaeus (88.8).
Related pages
- 1987 | 1989
- Conversations with Norman Mailer | “Jackson Is a Friend of Life’s Victims” | Lipton’s
- Harlot's Ghost (91.26) | Fury, Fear, Philosophy: Understanding Mike Tyson (88.7)