Lipton’s Journal/Correspondence of Robert Lindner and Norman Mailer
“Lipton’s Journal” cannot be fully understood outside of Mailer’s friendship with Lindner. We are lucky to have the bulk of their correspondence and can thus get a glimpse of the texture of their relationship. Robert Lindner came into Mailer’s life at a particularly difficult time—a period in which he was still reeling from a formidable blow to his ego after the failure of Barbary Shore, and was writing his new novel The Deer Park under a cloud of uncertainty. For many this would have been a good time to consider turning to a psychotherapist for help. So, perhaps it is not surprising that after reading Prescription for a Rebellion, Mailer felt compelled to write to the author. It seems that Mailer knew he had found a rare bird—a psychoanalyst who would not squelch his creativity and would help him remain a rebel with a cause. On November 18, 1952 Mailer sent his first letter to Lindner opening the gate for an intense and fertile friendship that lasted until Lindner’s untimely death in February, 1956.
| Date | Letter To | First Words |
|---|---|---|
| November 18, 1952 | To Robert Lindner | I wish I had been able to write . . . |
| November 24, 1952 | To Norman Mailer | I was very glad to hear from you . . . |
| April 15, 1953 | To Robert Lindner | I hope you’ll excuse this long delay . . . |
| February 16, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | I’ve been pushing hard into the book . . . |
| February 23, 1954 | To Norman Mailer | Just receiving your letter was a great relief. |
| February 26, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | I’m answering this immediately . . . |
| June 7, 1954 | To Norman Mailer | It was great talking with you the other night. |
| June 12, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | The trip to Mexico keeps getting put off. |
| June-July 1954 | To Norman Mailer | It is to be hoped greatly that this my letter . . . |
| July 16, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | I really enjoyed your masterpiece . . . |
| July 20, 1954 | To Norman Mailer | Don’t tell me we’re not simpatico! |
| August 19, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | I’ve been sort of saving up and looking forward . . . |
| September 15, 1954 | To Norman Mailer | Now, at last, I take my pen in hand . . . |
| November 29, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | Just a shortie to tell you what a good time . . . |
| December 7, 1954 | To Norman Mailer | The fact that you left a number of things . . . |
| December 20, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | More notes from the journal. |
| December 31, 1954 | To Robert Lindner | Happy New Year. |
| January 20, 1955 | To Robert Lindner | Some more of the journal. |
| January 27, 1955 | To Norman Mailer | O tried to call you last night . . . |
| February 3, 1955 | To Norman Mailer | I have been so tremendously excited . . . |
| March 14, 1955 | To Norman Mailer | It’s been so long since I heard from you . . . |
| March 15, 1955 | To Norman Mailer | Either you wrote those two notes in a paranoid fog . . . |
| March 29, 1955 | To Norman Mailer | Your manuscript is being mailed today . . . |
| April 22, 1955 | To Robert Lindner | Just a note to tell you how good . . . |
| April 25, 1955 | To Robert Lindner | I came over to my studio today . . . |
| June 3, 1955 | To Robert Lindner | That was a good talk we had on the phone . . . |
| July 1955 | To Norman Mailer | The days go by and I find myself more hard pressed . . . |
| January 13, 1956 | To Norman Mailer | Perhaps you will forgive my silence . . . |
| September 8, 2007 | Postscript: Mailer on the death of Robert Lindner | |
