80.13

“In a Merry Marriage-Go-Round, Norman Mailer Plans a Double Wedding, to Wives Five and Six.” Article by unidentified writer. People Weekly, 3 November, 34–35. Sketchy report garnered from Liz Smith’s column on Mailer’s divorce from wife number four, Beverly Bentley, followed by marriage to Carol Stevens, with whom he lived from 1969 to 1975, then immediate divorce from her and immediate marriage (on 11 November) to Norris Church, with whom he lived since 1975. Mailer described the marriage to and divorce from Stevens as “civilized,” undertaken to “honor” his years with her and their child, Maggie. The article is accompanied by photographs of all six of his wives, and quotes from Church and Bentley. An editorial in New York Times, 19 October, Sec. 4, p. 30, subtitled “Mailer’s Ring Cycle,” lauds Mailer for these marriages: “In a time when the very idea of matrimony is in question, when parents are becoming an endangered species . . . Norman Mailer comes along and reminds us of the verities. . . . Call the novelist a matrimaniac, or call him a mensch. We call Norman Mailer a still point in a turning world.” See also “The Amours of Norman, Chapters 5 and 6,” New York Times, 14 October, Sec. B, p.12; 78.4, 78.5, 79.2–79.5, 79.8.