Letter to Rita Halle Kleeman
Declining a March speaking invitation from a P.E.N. staffer because the serial 'takes up just about all of my time'; he mentions his embarrassing, underprepared Wesleyan talk and an upcoming Buckley debate. Lennon notes the gregarious Mailer had to refuse such invitations to make his deadlines.
A polite refusal to Rita Halle Kleeman, a staff member at P.E.N., whose 2 March discussion Mailer cannot join because the serial “takes up just about all of my time.” He alludes to his under-prepared Wesleyan talk of the previous week (“had cause for embarrassment in the result”) and to a coming Buckley debate, then begs off everything else: “nothing this year, nothing. Maybe 1965.” Lennon notes the letter is “similar to many others not included in this edition” — the gregarious Mailer had to say no to protect his installment schedule.