Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Throwing Punches: Mailer on Mailer

Jennifer Farbar's wide-ranging Esquire interview (June 1986) — Mailer on machismo, birth control, the sixties, homosexuality, and the sexual revolution, with asides on JFK, 'The White Negro,' and The Executioner's Song. Conducted by the daughter of his friend Buzz Farbar.

“Throwing Punches: Mailer on Mailer,” Jennifer L. Farbar’s interview, ran in Esquire in June 1986 (238–40, 243–44, 247–50). The interviewer was the daughter of Mailer’s close friend Buzz Farbar, and the conversation ranges widely — machismo, birth control, the sixties, homosexuality, and the sexual revolution — with asides on John F. Kennedy, “The White Negro” (57.1), and The Executioner’s Song (79.14). It was reprinted in Conversations with Norman Mailer (88.6).

First published: 1986-06
Form: article-interview
Lennon & Lennon: 86.28
Cite as: /works/1986-06-throwing-punches-mailer-on-mailer
Last updated: 2026-06-06