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IN A LENGTHY, SINGLE-SPACED, TWO-AND-A-HALF-PAGE TYPEWRITTEN CRITIQUE of the Actor's Studio production of Strawhead, Norman Mailer's fifth wife, Carol, tasks him with the above observation about this third appropriation of Marilyn Monroe as a focus for his creative endeavors. It is a salient question, something mentioned not only by someone who knew him intimately, but also by critics of the relevant works, Marilyn, Of Women and Their Elegance, and Strawhead. Mailer's biographers have also noted how beguiled he was with the topic. Robert Merrill calls it "a continuting obsession".[1] Barry Leeds introduces his book-length study, The Enduring Vision of Norman Mailer, with a chapter on Mailer and Marilyn, observing in his first sentence that for decades Mailer had been "fascinated with the life and death of Marilyn Monroe",[2] introducing the similarities between them, and concluding that they were both prisoners of sex. The issue calls for further exploration of both its enduring allure for Mailer and the unsavory aspects of his handling of his Marilyn mania.
Notes
Citations
Works Cited
- Leeds, Barry H. (2002). The Enduring Vision of Norman Mailer. Bainbridge Island, WA: Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press. p. 20.
- Merrill, Robert (1992). Norman Mailer Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers. p. 9.