Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Preface to The Deer Park

Mailer's 250-word preface to the Berkley softcover reissue of The Deer Park; he had said his piece in the 'Fourth Advertisement for Myself,' reprinted in the same edition.

Mailer’s preface (only 250 words) to the Berkley softcover reissue of The Deer Park (55.4; November 1976). It is short because Mailer had already had his say in “Fourth Advertisement for Myself: The Last Draft of The Deer Park,” reprinted from Advertisements for Myself (59.13) after the text in this edition. He adds that the novel “is I think of all my novels the one which shows the fewest signs of the work which went into it, and I like it that way.”

First published: 1976-11
Form: essay
Lennon & Lennon: 76.14
Cite as: /works/1976-11-preface-deer-park
Last updated: 2026-06-04