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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Norman Mailer’s Letters on ''An American Dream'', 1963–1969}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Norman Mailer’s Letters on'' An American Dream'', 1963–1969''}}
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{{byline|type=Edited|last=Lennon|first=J. Michael|note=Copyright ©2004 by Sligo Press. 67 South Pioneer Avenue, Shavertown, PA 18708. See [[04.7]].<ref>In addition to what’s featured, the original volume contained a list of illustrations, an index, and four appendices: Appendix I: Norman Mailer: Key Publications, 1948-2003 (see “[[Norman Mailer's First Editions]]”); Appendix II: ''An American Dream'': Selected Bibliography (see tabs above); Appendix III: Timeline of Events, 1962-1966 (see tabs above); and Appendix IV: ''An American Dream'': Word Count Comparison, ''Esquire'' and Dial Versions (see tabs above). The appendices are not labeled as such in this digital edition, but all information in contained herein.</ref>  }}


{{byline|type=Edited|last=Lennon|first=J. Michael}}
===From the [[Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969/Introduction|Introduction]]===
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''Shavertown, PA: Sligo Press, 2004''. ([[04.7]])
 
===From the Introduction===
Until he wrote ''[[An American Dream]]'', his most evocative and lyrical novel, [[Norman Mailer]] did not invest his major fictional characters with his deepest concerns and beliefs: a desire to grow at all costs, a distrust of pure reason, a willingness to take risks, trust in the authority of the senses, faith in courage as the cardinal virtue, fear and loathing for the incipient totalitarianism of American life and, most importantly, a belief in an heroic but limited God locked in struggle with a powerful, wily Devil, conceivably with the fate of the universe in the balance. Stephen Richards Rojack, the novel’s protagonist, has these concerns and shares Mailer’s theological beliefs. Rojack is a war hero, former congressman, college professor, talk show host, celebrity intellectual and nascent alcoholic. Preternaturally alert to omens and portents and susceptible to every premonition, he hears voices, studies the phases of the moon, and waits for either cancer or madness to strike him. His wife Deborah taunts him with her infidelities and attacks his manhood in a variety of insidious ways, driving him to a physical attack that ends with her murder. Rojack then throws her body out of the apartment window ten stories down to the pavement on the east side of Manhattan. He claims that her fall was suicide, and the brunt of the story is devoted to his attempts to convince his and her friends, the police and Deborah's father, Barney Oswald Kelly, the “solicitor for the devil,” of his innocence. Narrated in an edgy, rococo style by Rojack, the novel shows Mailer at the height of his word power as he delineates the dread-filled inner life of his embattled hero. The air of the novel is haunted, swarming with demonic and divine presences, especially in the final chapter, when Rojack confronts Kelly in his penthouse apartment in the Waldorf Towers.  
Until he wrote ''[[An American Dream]]'', his most evocative and lyrical novel, [[Norman Mailer]] did not invest his major fictional characters with his deepest concerns and beliefs: a desire to grow at all costs, a distrust of pure reason, a willingness to take risks, trust in the authority of the senses, faith in courage as the cardinal virtue, fear and loathing for the incipient totalitarianism of American life and, most importantly, a belief in an heroic but limited God locked in struggle with a powerful, wily Devil, conceivably with the fate of the universe in the balance. Stephen Richards Rojack, the novel’s protagonist, has these concerns and shares Mailer’s theological beliefs. Rojack is a war hero, former congressman, college professor, talk show host, celebrity intellectual and nascent alcoholic. Preternaturally alert to omens and portents and susceptible to every premonition, he hears voices, studies the phases of the moon, and waits for either cancer or madness to strike him. His wife Deborah taunts him with her infidelities and attacks his manhood in a variety of insidious ways, driving him to a physical attack that ends with her murder. Rojack then throws her body out of the apartment window ten stories down to the pavement on the east side of Manhattan. He claims that her fall was suicide, and the brunt of the story is devoted to his attempts to convince his and her friends, the police and Deborah's father, Barney Oswald Kelly, the “solicitor for the devil,” of his innocence. Narrated in an edgy, rococo style by Rojack, the novel shows Mailer at the height of his word power as he delineates the dread-filled inner life of his embattled hero. The air of the novel is haunted, swarming with demonic and divine presences, especially in the final chapter, when Rojack confronts Kelly in his penthouse apartment in the Waldorf Towers.  


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<div style="margin:0.5em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em; padding:0.5em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em; text-align:right;">[[Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969/Introduction|Continue Reading »]]</div>
<div style="margin:0.5em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em; padding:0.5em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em; text-align:right;">[[Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969/Introduction|Continue Reading »]]</div>
===[[Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream, 1963–1969/Acknowledgements and Appreciations]]===


== The Letters ==
== The Letters ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|-
! style="min-width: 150px;" | Date
! style="min-width: 200px;" | Date
! style="min-width: 200px;" | To
! style="min-width: 220px;" | To
! style="min-width: 200px;" | Notes
! style="min-width: 200px;" | Notes
|-
|-
Line 62: Line 56:
| January 16, 1964 || [[Vance Bourjaily, January 16, 1964|Vance Bourjaily]] || [[w:Vance Bourjaily|Bourjaily]], an American novelist, met Mailer in 1951.
| January 16, 1964 || [[Vance Bourjaily, January 16, 1964|Vance Bourjaily]] || [[w:Vance Bourjaily|Bourjaily]], an American novelist, met Mailer in 1951.
|-
|-
| January 17, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yamanishi, January 17, 1964|Eiichi Yamanishi]] ||
| January 17, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yaminishi, January 17, 1964|Eiichi Yaminishi]] ||
|-  
|-  
| February 11, 1964 || [[Harvey Breit, February 11, 1964| Harvey Breit]] || Mailer became friendly with [[w:Harvey Breit|Harvey Breit]], a reporter and novelist who spent summers on Cape Cod.
| February 11, 1964 || [[Harvey Breit, February 11, 1964| Harvey Breit]] || Mailer became friendly with [[w:Harvey Breit|Harvey Breit]], a reporter and novelist who spent summers on Cape Cod.
Line 70: Line 64:
| February 17, 1964 || [[Charles Schultz, February 17, 1964,|Charles Schultz]] || Schultz was an official with the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences who invited Mailer to take part in a forum discussion.
| February 17, 1964 || [[Charles Schultz, February 17, 1964,|Charles Schultz]] || Schultz was an official with the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences who invited Mailer to take part in a forum discussion.
|-
|-
| February 19, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yamanishi, February 19, 1964|Eiichi Yamanishi]] ||
| February 19, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yaminishi, February 19, 1964|Eiichi Yaminishi]] ||
|-  
|-  
| March 16, 1964 || [[Vahan Gregory, March 16, 1964|Vahan Gregory]] || Gregory was a literary acquaintance of Mailer’s.
| March 16, 1964 || [[Vahan Gregory, March 16, 1964|Vahan Gregory]] || Gregory was a literary acquaintance of Mailer’s.
Line 96: Line 90:
| July 6, 1964 || [[Pete Hamill, July 6, 1964|Pete Hamill]] || Journalist and novelist, [[w:Pete Hamill|Pete Hamill]] had been a friend of Mailer since they met in Chicago in 1962.
| July 6, 1964 || [[Pete Hamill, July 6, 1964|Pete Hamill]] || Journalist and novelist, [[w:Pete Hamill|Pete Hamill]] had been a friend of Mailer since they met in Chicago in 1962.
|-
|-
| July 7, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yamanishi, July 7, 1964|Eiichi Yamanishi]] ||
| July 7, 1964 || [[Eiichi Yaminishi, July 7, 1964|Eiichi Yaminishi]] ||
|-
|-
| August 21, 1964 || [[Diana Athill, August 21, 1964|Diana Athill]] ||
| August 21, 1964 || [[Diana Athill, August 21, 1964|Diana Athill]] ||
|-
|-
| September 29, 1964 || [[Robert F. Lucid, September 29, 1964|Robert F. Lucid]] || Longtime professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, [[Robert F. Lucid|Lucid]] was one of Mailer’s closest friends and his authorized biographer.
| September 29, 1964 || [[Robert F. Lucid, September 29, 1964|Robert F. Lucid]] || Longtime professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, [[Robert F. Lucid|Lucid]] was one of Mailer’s closest friends and authorized biographer until Lucid died in 2006.
|-
|-
| October 5, 1964 || [[Don Carpenter, October 5, 1964|Don Carpenter]] ||
| October 5, 1964 || [[Don Carpenter, October 5, 1964|Don Carpenter]] ||
Line 116: Line 110:
| December 21, 1964 || [[Virginia Mangrum, December 21, 1964|Virginia Mangrum]] || Mangrum was still another Mailer fan.
| December 21, 1964 || [[Virginia Mangrum, December 21, 1964|Virginia Mangrum]] || Mangrum was still another Mailer fan.
|-
|-
| January 27, 1965 || [[Eiichi Yamanishi, January 27, 1965|Eiichi Yamanishi]] ||
| January 27, 1965 || [[Eiichi Yaminishi, January 27, 1965|Eiichi Yaminishi]] ||
|-
|-
| February 25, 1965 || [[Diana Athill, February 25, 1965|Diana Athill]] ||
| February 25, 1965 || [[Diana Athill, February 25, 1965|Diana Athill]] ||
Line 126: Line 120:
| March 23, 1965 || [[Alan Earney, March 23, 1965|Alan Earney]] ||
| March 23, 1965 || [[Alan Earney, March 23, 1965|Alan Earney]] ||
|-
|-
| March 25, 1965 || [[Jason Epstein, March 25, 1965|Jason Epstein]] || [[w:Jason Epstein|Epstein]] was the longtime editorial director at Random House,
| March 25, 1965 || [[Jason Epstein, March 25, 1965|Jason Epstein]] || [[w:Jason Epstein|Epstein]] was the longtime editorial director at Random House, where he was Mailer’s editor.
where he was Mailer’s editor.
|-
|-
| March 25, 1965 || [[Don Carpenter, March 25, 1965|Don Carpenter]] ||
| March 25, 1965 || [[Don Carpenter, March 25, 1965|Don Carpenter]] ||
Line 175: Line 168:
| 1969 || [[Whit Burnett, 1969|Whit Burnett]] || Burnett published Mailer’s story Mailer’s story “[[The Greatest Thing in the World]]” in November 1941, marking the beginning of Mailer’s literary career.
| 1969 || [[Whit Burnett, 1969|Whit Burnett]] || Burnett published Mailer’s story Mailer’s story “[[The Greatest Thing in the World]]” in November 1941, marking the beginning of Mailer’s literary career.
|}
|}
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===Note===
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