Norman Mailer: Works and Days

1965-07-14-letter-to-diana-trilling

Norman Mailer's Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969, ed. J. Michael Lennon (Sligo Press, 2004); transcription via the An American Dream Expanded digital edition (Project Mailer).

Dear Diana,

Thank you for the clipping and the nice reports. I’m not sure I know what you mean by the absence of a Marlow,1 in An American Dream. Superficially it seems to me that Rojack embodies a sufficient amount of civilization to avoid meaninglessness, but to defend that in detail means a long letter, and then we shall both be breaking our vows to write many pages this summer and few letters. Therefore I save the discussion for the pleasure of seeing you and Lionel in September. By the way, our place is on the sea and most agreeable. I hope you and Lionel (and Jim if he’s so inclined) are in the mood to come here when you get back.

Love,

Norman

P.S. There’s a somewhat unintegrated book by a man named Christopher Lasch, called if I remember The New Radicalism in America, but it has a very good chapter on Mabel Dodge Luhan 2 in which Lawrence figures prominently, and I think you might enjoy it.

Editorial notes (J. Michael Lennon)

Footnotes

  1. The “Marlow” Trilling refers to is the narrator-participant used by Joseph Conrad in several fictional works he wrote based on his seafaring experiences: “ Youth,” Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness and Chance. ↩

  2. Mabel Dodge Luhan was a supporter of D. H. Lawrence when he lived in New Mexico. ↩

Referenced by 1

Letters

Source: Norman Mailer's Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969, ed. J. Michael Lennon (Sligo Press, 2004); transcription via the An American Dream Expanded digital edition (Project Mailer).
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Last updated: 2026-06-08