1979: Difference between revisions

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''The Executioner's Song'' ([[79.14]]), [[Norman Mailer|Mailer]]'s third and most important collaboration with [[Lawrence Schiller]], is published on 15 October, with excerpts appearing in ''Playboy'', October-December. Based on over 15,000 pages of interviews, letters, media reports, legal and medical documents, this 1,056-page narrative tells the life story of [[Gary Gilmore]], a Utah double murderer who fights to have his own execution carried out shortly after his conviction. He is executed by a firing squad in January 1977.
''The Executioner's Song'' ([[79.14]]), {{NM}}’s third and most important collaboration with [[Lawrence Schiller]], is published on 15 October, with excerpts appearing in ''Playboy'', October-December. Based on over 15,000 pages of interviews, letters, media reports, legal and medical documents, this 1,056-page narrative tells the life story of [[w:Gary Gilmore|Gary Gilmore]], a Utah double murderer who fights to have his own execution carried out shortly after his conviction. He is executed by a firing squad in January 1977.


This "true-life novel", as Mailer describes it, climbs to number three on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in January 1980, and spends 25 weeks, all told, on the list, the longest period for all of his books save ''The Naked and the Dead''. Joan Didion calls it, "an absolutely astonishing book" in her 7 October review in the ''New York Times Book Review''. In early November, after a correspondence with him about prison life, Mailer meets convict [[Jack Henry Abbott]], at the Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois. In December, ''The Executioner's Song'' is nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and wins the Best Major Work in Fiction Award from Playboy.
This “true-life novel,” as Mailer describes it, climbs to number three on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in January 1980, and spends 25 weeks, all told, on the list, the longest period for all of his books save ''The Naked and the Dead''. [[w:Joan Didion|Joan Didion]] calls it, “an absolutely astonishing book” in her 7 October review in the ''New York Times Book Review''. In early November, after a correspondence with him about prison life, Mailer meets convict [[w:Jack Abbott (author)|Jack Henry Abbott]], at the Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois. In December, ''The Executioner's Song'' is nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and wins the Best Major Work in Fiction Award from ''Playboy''.


<gallery>
{{Gallery
File:1979 Mailer and Schiller - Jill Krementz.jpg|Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller in 1979. Photo by Jill Krementz.
|width=200
File:1979 - NM and Larry Schiller.jpg|NM and Lawrence Schiller, 1979.
|height=200
File:1979 NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris.jpg|NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris, 1979.
|align=left
</gallery>
|File:1979 Mailer and Schiller - Jill Krementz.jpg|Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller in 1979. Photo by Jill Krementz.
|File:1979 - NM and Larry Schiller.jpg|NM and Lawrence Schiller, 1979.
|File:1979 NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris.jpg|NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris, 1979.
}}
<div style="clear:both;"></div>


{{1960s|state=collapsed}}
{{1960s|state=collapsed}}

Latest revision as of 13:05, 2 June 2019

Norman Mailer: Works and Days
Navigation
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
Wikipedia book Books • Project page Projects

The Executioner's Song (79.14), Mailer’s third and most important collaboration with Lawrence Schiller, is published on 15 October, with excerpts appearing in Playboy, October-December. Based on over 15,000 pages of interviews, letters, media reports, legal and medical documents, this 1,056-page narrative tells the life story of Gary Gilmore, a Utah double murderer who fights to have his own execution carried out shortly after his conviction. He is executed by a firing squad in January 1977.

This “true-life novel,” as Mailer describes it, climbs to number three on the New York Times bestseller list in January 1980, and spends 25 weeks, all told, on the list, the longest period for all of his books save The Naked and the Dead. Joan Didion calls it, “an absolutely astonishing book” in her 7 October review in the New York Times Book Review. In early November, after a correspondence with him about prison life, Mailer meets convict Jack Henry Abbott, at the Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois. In December, The Executioner's Song is nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and wins the Best Major Work in Fiction Award from Playboy.

  • Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller in 1979. Photo by Jill Krementz.

    Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller in 1979. Photo by Jill Krementz.

  • NM and Lawrence Schiller, 1979.

    NM and Lawrence Schiller, 1979.

  • NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris, 1979.

    NM, Joyce Carol Oates, and Norris, 1979.

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