2001

At the invitation of John Irving, Mailer, Norris and George Plimpton perform a staged reading of Zelda, Scott and Ernest in Manchester, VT. The play, written by Plimpton and Tom Quinn, is drawn entirely from the correspondence of Ernest Hemingway (played by Mailer), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Plimpton), and Zelda Fitzgerald (Norris). Over the next two years the trio will give over a dozen performances in the U.S. and Europe.

He responds to the 9/11 tragedy with a series of interviews and essays, including one in the Times of London on 13 September.

Between performances of the play, Mailer and Schiller travel together and research the story of F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen, who is arrested and convicted of spying for the Russians.

Mailer’s teleplay is completed in November and broadcast on CBS the same month. Schiller transforms the teleplay into a narrative, Into the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen (02.7), which is published the following year.

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  Carl Charnetski, Norman Mailer, and J. Michael Lennon (2001). Photo by Donna Lennon.

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  Dedication of the Norman Mailer Room at Wilkes University, April 1, 2001.