Norman Mailer Society/Conference/2016 Long Branch, NJ

The 14th Norman Mailer Society Conference
Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
September 29, 30 and October 1, 2016

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – (Sept. 16, 2016) – The Norman Mailer Society, in partnership with Monmouth University’s Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences, will hold its 14th annual conference on campus from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. Barbara Mailer Wasserman, Long Branch native and sister of the late Norman Mailer, will provide the keynote address, “Mailer Roots in Long Branch.” Also included in the conference will be a reading by Monmouth Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing Alex Gilvarry from his upcoming novel, Eastman Was Here and a performance of the one-woman play, A Ticket to the Circus, by Bonnie Culver, based on the memoir of Mailer’s wife, Norris Church Mailer, performed by K.C. Leiber.

The program also includes a panel discussion, “Long Branch History,” moderated by Susan Goulding, chair of the English department, and co-chair of the conference. Joining her are Stan Blair, interim dean of the University’s Honors School, Randell Gabrielan, vice-chair of the Monmouth County Historical Commission and Melissa Ziobro, specialist professor of public history at Monmouth.

Other notable panels include “Putative Comments on the 2016 Election by the Late Norman Mailer,” chaired by former Mailer Society president, author Mark Olshaker. The panelists are Neil Abercrombie, former governor of Hawaii, Mailer’s son, Michael, a filmmaker and Mailer’s nephew, writer Peter Alson. Another is “Children of Famous Writers,” featuring Mailer’s daughter Susan, Kaylie Jones, daughter of novelist James Jones and Greg Bellow, son of novelist Saul Bellow. This panel will be moderated by Mailer Society president and conference co-chair, J. Michael Lennon.

Program

Thursday, September 29

8:45-9:30: Business Meeting (Room 107)

9:45-10:45

• Panel: “Lipton’s”: Mailer’s Marijuana Journal: Justin Bozung, Nicole DePolo, Susan Mailer, Jason Mosser, Moderator: Michael Lennon (Room 107)
• Papers: “Mailer and Ty Cobb: Unnoticed Parallels”: William Thelin; “Reading Mailer Reading Miller,” James Decker; Moderator: Marc Triplett (Room 108)

11:00-12:00: Panel: Mailer and Picasso: Justin Bozung, Christopher Busa, Maggie McKinley, Moderator: Jackson Bryer (Room 107)

12:00-1:15: Lunch on Your Own (Box Lunches available/ pre-order only). Box Lunch diners may use the Club Dining Room.

1:30-2:30: Papers: “Could an Author, Even Mailer, Be Mailer Today?”: Tim Lemire; “Mailer vs. Celebrity Culture”: Sal Fallica, Moderator: Denise Pappas (Room 107)

2:45-3:45: Panel: Long Branch History: Stan Blair, Randell Gabrielan, Melissa Ziobro, Moderator: Susan Goulding (Wilson Auditorium)

4:00-5:00

• Papers: “Hippy and Hipster: Theology and ‘The White Negro,’” Bowen Alpern; “Mailer, the Beats, and Drugs: Raj Chandarlapty, Moderator: Philip Sipiora (Room 107)
• Panel: Remembering Muhammad Ali: Ron Fried, Bill Lowenburg, Michael Mailer, Moderator: John Buffalo Mailer (Room 108)

5:30-7:45: Dinner on Your Own

8:00-9:30: A Ticket to the Circus: A One-Woman Play by Bonnie Culver, performed by K. C. Leiber (Wilson Auditorium)

Friday, September 30

9:00-10:00: The Digital Mailer: Gerald Lucas (Room 107)

10:15-11:15: Panel: Putative Comments on the 2016 Election by the Late Norman Mailer: Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Peter Alson, Michael Mailer, Moderator: Mark Olshaker (Wilson Auditorium)

11:30-12:30

• Panel: Mailer and Bellow: Ezra Cappell (tentative), Alex Gilvarry, Maggie McKinley; Moderator: Ron Fried (Room 107)
• Papers: “The American Existentialism of Norman Mailer”: Okla Elliott; “Mailer’s Reading of Capital as Fiction”: Erik Nakjavani; Moderator: Bonnie Culver (Room 108)

12:30-1:30: Lunch on Your Own. Boxed Lunch diners may use the Club Dining Room. Board Members will have a brief meeting during lunch in the Club Lounge

1:45-2:45: Panel: Children of Major Writers: Greg Bellow, Kaylie Jones, Susan Mailer, Moderator: Michael Lennon (Wilson Auditorium)

3:00-4:30

• Panel: Mailer’s Short Fiction: Bonnie Culver, Joseph Lennon, Philip Sipiora, Moderator: Vic Peppard (Room 107)
• Panel: Mailer and Plastics: The Seer and the Scientist (based on the film, The Invisible Ocean): Robert Begiebing, Chris Busa (Room 108)

5:30-8:00: Dinner at Monmouth University (Anacon B)

8:15-9:15: Reading: Alex Gilvarry reading his forthcoming novel, Eastman Was Here, introduced by John Buffalo Mailer (Wilson Auditorium)

Saturday, October 1

9:00-10:00

• Papers: “The Naked and the Dead: Lost Illusions and Pessimism”: Alexander Hicks; “Mailer and Babel on Being Jewish,” Victor Peppard, Moderator: Mashey Bernstein (Room 107)
• Papers: “Mailer in the Classroom”: Matthew Hinton; “Violence, Style, and Pedagogy: Teaching Mailer in American Literature Courses”: Walter Lewallen; “Mailer as Playwright”: Timothy Nolan; Moderator: Nicole DePolo (Room 108)

10:15-11:15: Readings from Mailer’s First (unpublished) Novel, “No Percentage”: Wilkes Readers Theatre: Bonnie Culver, Matthew Hinton, Caleb Sizemore, Hillary Transue, Ken Vose (Wilson Auditorium)

11:30-12:30

• Panel: The Castle in the Forest: Another Look: Robert Begiebing, Jacob Hebda, Joanna Poncavage, Moderator: John Winters (Room 107)
• Panel: Mailer and Photography: Dan Kramer, Larry Schiller, Moderator: Nina Wiener (Room 108)

12:45-3:00: Keynote Luncheon Address: “Mailer Roots in Long Branch”: Barbara Mailer Wasserman (Anacon B)

3:30-4:00: Visit to Mailer and Schneider family graves in Long Branch Cemetery. Mashey Bernstein Presiding