Norman Mailer: Works and Days

An Interview with Norman Mailer (Aldridge)

John W. Aldridge's Partisan Review interview on the narrative challenges of The Executioner's Song; Gilmore 'embodied many of the themes I've been living with all my life.'

“An Interview with Norman Mailer,” by John W. Aldridge in Partisan Review 47 (July 1980), focused on the narrative opportunities and challenges of The Executioner’s Song (79.14). Mailer again compares it with Capote’s In Cold Blood and notes that Gilmore was an appealing character “because he embodied many of the themes I’ve been living with all my life.” Reprinted in Conversations with Norman Mailer (88.6).

First published: 1980-07
Form: interview
Lennon & Lennon: 80.10
Cite as: /works/1980-07-interview-aldridge
Last updated: 2026-06-05