The Mailer Review/Volume 3, 2009/Norman’s Crystals: Difference between revisions

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writing coordinator of the Fine Arts Work Center.

Norman always fostered developing writers. According to Schiller, Nor- man wrote 50,000 letters in his life, with maybe 8,000 to writers of all ages: “Norman responded, and that impressed me. At the end, a nurse sat on his bedside and asked, ‘Do you think you could teach me how to write?’ Norman was reading the New York Times. He lowered the paper and asked, ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ She was going sailing with her boyfriend. A week later, I’m back to visit and Norman is editing her manuscript, making ~~com- ments~~. He handed her four pages, all marked up. He went back to reading the Times. She read the manuscript over and over and she started to cry. That’s where the Norman Mailer Writers Colony was born. When I saw this happen in the hospital, I saw something needed to be done. Now I knew I had to make time and devote part of my life to this cause. I went to Norris and Norman’s children. I reached out to many others in many directions to develop a ~~pro- gram~~ that is as unique and different as Norman ~~was—work~~ on the edge.”

Norman always fostered developing writers. According to Schiller, Nor- man wrote 50,000 letters in his life, with maybe 8,000 to writers of all ages: “Norman responded, and that impressed me. At the end, a nurse sat on his bedside and asked, ‘Do you think you could teach me how to write?’ Norman was reading the New York Times. He lowered the paper and asked, ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ She was going sailing with her boyfriend. A week later, I’m back to visit and Norman is editing her manuscript, making comments. He handed her four pages, all marked up. He went back to reading the Times. She read the manuscript over and over and she started to cry. That’s where the Norman Mailer Writers Colony was born. When I saw this happen in the hospital, I saw something needed to be done. Now I knew I had to make time and devote part of my life to this cause. I went to Norris and Norman’s children. I reached out to many others in many directions to develop a program that is as unique and different as Norman was work on the edge.”

Schiller told me, “Norman’s death was more traumatic than the death of my own father. My father represented complacency and security and Norman represented confronting the unknown, which keeps one alive. I am consumed in making this work. The Colony is an extension of Norman. People admired and respected his need to challenge himself.”