Talk:The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/Interview with Susan Mailer, author of In Another Place: With and Without My Father, Norman Mailer: Difference between revisions

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 My father had many faults, and too many times he wasn't the most supportive father. But, eventually, family became very important to him. Starting in the mid 60's Dad gathered his children to spend a couple of months in Provincetown. In the early 70's a month in Maine was added. I wasn't always present, but I was there enough times to feel a growing tie with all my siblings. In Maine we were thrown into communal living, had to share with the house-hold chores and only had each other for entertainment. And it was this summer month every year which bonded us as siblings. I suppose that as the oldest, some of my siblings looked up to me. But, on the other hand, I wasn't around enough in their everyday life to know them intimately. I think it wasn't until I was living in Chile, that I fully grasped how important they were to me.
+'''#7)''' You write about the place where your father lived in Brooklyn, from the early 1960s until his death, Columbia Heights, overlooking the East River and the Manhattan skyline. You also paint a vivid portrait of Mexico City. How would you contrast the feel of life, the ambiance, of these two cities where you spent your formative years?'''
+'''SM''': I can't think of two more different places than New York/Brooklyn and Mexico City in the 1950's and 60's. Language, food, colors, smells, music, the people, and history. When I was growing up, Mexico was color and New York was gray. I usually went to New York from November to February, spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Mailer family. That meant roast turkey and sweet potatoes, pies, stuffing, a Christmas tree, snow and lots of presents. And many cold, gray days. Mexico was summer, dazzling blooming flowers, spicy food, tropical rain, playing outside on the street with friends. Winter was with Dad and Summer was with Mom. Like the myth of Persephone and Demeter.
+'''#8)''' Your mother Beatrice was a life-long practicing psychiatrist and you underwent psychoanalysis in Chile. These were two of the factors that led to your choice of a career as an analyst, correct? Were there others?'''
+'''SM''': My mother was an MD. She trained as a psychiatrist and was a therapist until she retired. When I was a kid. I'd use her doctor's stationary to play therapist diagnosing a patient. My gather was also interested in Freud. As a novelist he journeyed into unconscious and created characters with complex emotional lives. We all know he was not afraid of the turbulence of aggression and violence. I would say then, that both my parents, each in their own way, influenced the professional path I chose. By the time I began my personal analysis, I had already decided to become a psychoanalyst.
+'''#9)''' You write that your father's status as one of the leading writers of his time thwarted any idea you had of becoming a writer. Can you comment on how his celebrity affected you and your siblings?'''
+'''SM''': I'd rather not speak on my siblings, although growing up in the shadow of a powerful father, who was also a celebrity, was not easy for any of us. In the memoir I mention how, during my young adulthood, I felt there was nothing I could do that would live up to his (or perhaps my own) expectations. I used to think being famous was the only way to measure success, so my eternal question was ''why even try''? I was sure I did not want to be a writer, not only because it meant being measured against his talent and fame, but also because I didn't want a writer's life. I had watched my father labor over his manuscripts. I knew writing required many solitary hours with my thoughts, many tortured days without knowing if what I was doing was good enough. I figured, if you don't have a talent like his. it's not worth trying.