Among the furnishings, photographs and knickknacks that fill Norman Mailer’s curious apartment in Brooklyn Heights, a visitor can get a sense of the writer’s voracious appetite for the patchwork of experiences life has to offer.
There is a button for Mailer’s quixotic 1969 campaign for New York City mayor that says “I would sleep better if Norman Mailer were mayor.” There is a framed original print of Milton H. Greene’s leggy photograph of Marilyn Monroe, a Mailer obsession and the subject of two affectionate books. And there is a photograph of Mailer boxing with José Torres, a light heavyweight champion. Mr. Torres taught Mailer how to box on the condition that Mailer teach him how to write.