Last Word on Love: Ode to Lady J.
Mailer's poem to Lady Jeanne Campbell, published in Queen (London) on 3 April 1962 — one month before the 4 May secret marriage. Two New York gossip columnists, Cholly Knickerbocker in the Journal-American (29 April) and Suzy in the Mirror (30 April), used the poem to identify 'Lady J' as Campbell, daughter of the eleventh Duke of Argyll and granddaughter of Lord Beaverbrook. Reprinted as 'Ode to a Lady' in Cannibals and Christians (66.11).
“Last Word on Love: Ode to Lady J.” Queen Magazine (London), 3 April 1962. Poem.
According to two gossip columnists — Cholly Knickerbocker in the New York Journal-American (29 April) and Suzy in the New York Mirror (30 April) — “Lady J” is Lady Jeanne Campbell, whom Mailer had secretly married on 4 May. Rpt: as “Ode to a Lady” in Cannibals and Christians (66.11).
The poem’s publication in Queen — at the moment of Mailer’s third marriage being still publicly unconfirmed — turned a relatively obscure London society magazine appearance into front-page New York gossip-column material.
Related pages
- 1962 | Queen | Lady Jeanne Campbell | Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters)
- Wed to Lady Jean? A Mystery, by Norman Mailer (62.9) | Norman Mailer Confirms Marriage to Lady Jean (62.10)
- Cannibals and Christians (66.11)