Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Mailer on Gilmore

Kevin Bezner's Washington Book Review interview on The Executioner's Song - narrative stance, Gilmore's appeal, the title and prison rhyme, and a comparison with Capote's In Cold Blood.

“Mailer on Gilmore,” an interview by Kevin Bezner in the Washington Book Review (January–February 1980), an excellent discussion of The Executioner’s Song (79.14): Mailer’s narrative stance, Gary Gilmore‘s character and appeal, the source of his title and the “old prison rhyme” prefacing the book, Joan Didion‘s review, and Capote’s In Cold Blood — “beautifully written. It had to be.”

First published: 1980-01
Form: interview
Lennon & Lennon: 80.1
Cite as: /works/1980-01-mailer-on-gilmore
Last updated: 2026-06-05