The Mailer Review/Volume 12, 2018/Reflections

We are honored to bring you volume 12 of the Review. Once again, we were graciously given permission by the Mailer Estate to publish an archival manuscript by Norman Mailer, “The Notebook,” which is an unpublished short story by Norman Mailer (circa 1953) in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. The HRC has generously provided images of the manuscript to accompany a transcribed version. As our readers know, we have published a number of archival manuscripts over the years and we hope that these resources will encourage scholars to take a fresh look at Mailer’s very early work, which I believe foreshadows, in strategic ways, his mature fiction.

Susan Mailer’s memoir, In Another Place With and Without my Father, Norman Mailer is scheduled for publication on November 1, 2019 by Northampton House Press and we have been given permission to include an excerpt from this insightful, deeply probing personal narrative. Further, we are pleased to include Bonnie Culver’s penetrating review of In Another Place.

Bonnie Culver’s play, NORRIS, which focuses on the life of Norris Church Mailer, is scheduled for opening in California in February-March, starring Anne Archer, with subsequent production in London and then New York City. All productions feature Archer in the title role.

Since we launched this journal in 2006—as little more than a dream and a raw idea—one person has been the guiding hand from the birth of the Review to the present day. I refer to Mike Lennon, who has been our unacknowledged “co-editor” from the very beginning. Through a dozen volumes, several thousand pages, and an eclectic range of topics and writers, Mike has played a critical role, each and every year, in providing sage counsel covering a wide scope of topics and contributors. As our readers well know, there is no one more knowledgeable about Norman Mailer and his work than Mike Lennon, who has so generously shared his vast and deep knowledge with countless other, especially me. Thank you, Mike.

Our staff at the University of South Florida remains steadfast and strong with Michael Shuman as Deputy Editor and Chondell Villines as Managing Editor. Gerald Lucas is critical to our mission with his invaluable counsel and assistance as Digital Editor. Giles Hoover contributes his considerable skills as an artistic designer in creating not only the cover of Volume 12, but also both inside cover advertisements. Shannon Zinck continues to serve as Associate Editor and Bibliographer and the importance of her work is vital to Mailer scholars in consulting her annual bibliography to access recent work in Mailer Studies. Further, I would like to thank Scott Neumeister for his transcription of my interview with Colum McCann. And as we enter the early production phase of Volume 13, I would like to welcome Richard Reisinger as the incoming Assistant Editor of the Review.

The Review could not exist (in print or electronically) without such dedicated, talented individuals and the list of those who have contributed so much to the Review over the years is strikingly extensive.

Phillip Sipiora