07.18
| Norman Mailer: Works and Days |
| Navigation |
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A new edition of Norman Mailer: Works and Days is at worksdays.projectmailer.net. This page in the new edition → |
| Frontmatter |
| Preface • Lennon Introduction • Lucas Introduction • Acknowledgments and Appreciations |
| Bibliographies |
| First Editions • Key Texts • Bibliographies • Biographies • Criticism • Cultural Backgrounds |
| Works |
| Works Index • NM’s Introductions • The Big Bite • Mailer for Mayor • Abbott Affair |
| Days |
| Days Index • Important Dates |
| Index |
| Index of Names • Works Categories • Days Categories |
 Books •  Projects |
“Epilogue, A Rough Draft.” Article-interview by Josh Getlin. Los Angeles Times, 4 February. Mailer summarizes his achievements in biography, saying he was “less successful with Jesus, because ultimately you can’t penetrate into the nature of Jesus.” He felt his portrait of Marilyn was superior to that of Henry Miller, “because he’s such a great writer.” He gave himself higher marks for his portrait of Muhammad Ali in The Fight (75.12) because he knew him so well: “There was a confidence, an excitement, an expressiveness about him that made it very easy to write.” Writing about Picasso taught him about “the meanness, the spite, the ugliness and the backbiting in the literary world is miniscule compared to what goes on in the art world.” Of The Castle in the Forest (07.10), he says: “It has more profoundly disturbing ideas in it than any book I’ve written.”
