Norman Mailer: Works and Days

A Transit to Narcissus

Mailer's review of Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, published nearly simultaneously in the New York Review of Books and Evergreen Review; one of his two film reviews.

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“A Transit to Narcissus,” Mailer’s review of Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris, published in the New York Review of Books (17 May 1973) and, at almost the same moment, in Evergreen Review no. 97 (summer). One of only two film reviews Mailer wrote. Reprinted as a Delacorte pamphlet, Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris,” and in Pieces and Pontifications (82.16) and Mind of an Outlaw (13.1). See 73.40, 74.2, 78.2, 92.4. A full transcription (rights cleared) is held at full text.

First published: 1973-05-17
Form: essay
Lennon & Lennon: 73.12
Cite as: /works/1973-05-17-transit-to-narcissus
Last updated: 2026-06-04