Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Letter to Sergio Gutiérrez-Olivos

Brief note declining the Chilean ambassador's invitation to an October 10 round table because Mailer expects to be in New England working on a novel — the earliest letter in the collection, and the first to acknowledge his plan to write An American Dream.

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A short note to Sergio Gutiérrez-Olivos, the Chilean ambassador to the United States, declining an invitation to take part in a 10 October round table because Mailer expects “to be away in New England at that time, working on a novel.” It is the earliest letter in Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream and, as Lennon notes, the first to acknowledge the plan to write An American Dream; Mailer began the novel shortly afterward.

Cite as: /letters/1963-09-18-letter-to-gutierrez-olivos
Last updated: 2026-06-07