83.42

“Mailer Takes on the Pharaohs,” Article-interview by Melvyn Bragg. (London) Sunday Times Magazine, 5 June, 18–19. Mailer tells Bragg about his motive and research for 83.18, including his belief in reincarnation: “For years I had been working on the theme that the only way to understand human behaviour was to see that it was not just working for one invested organisation—the present self.” Accompanied by an excerpt from the novel, the embalming sequence, chapters 5, 6 and the beginning of 7 from book 1, “The Book of One Man Dead,” encompassing the first excerpt published in the Paris Review (82.24).