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The Mailer Review/Volume 1, 2007/Gallery Talk: The Mailer Archive: Difference between revisions

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{{Byline|last=Lennon|first=J. Michael|abstract=An outline of Mailer’s complex and rich history of occupations and experiences, as revealed in the stunning breadth and depth of the holdings in the Texas Mailer Archives.|note=Harry Ransom Humanities Center, Flair Conference: Norman Mailer and America in Conflict, November 10, 2006.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr07lenn}}
{{Byline|last=Lennon|first=J. Michael|abstract=An outline of Mailer’s complex and rich history of occupations and experiences, as revealed in the stunning breadth and depth of the holdings in the Texas Mailer Archives.|note=Harry Ransom Humanities Center, Flair Conference: Norman Mailer and America in Conflict, November 10, 2006.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr07lenn}}


1974, a collection of essays titled ''Will the Real Norman Mailer Please Stand Up'', edited by Laura Adams, appeared.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Adams |editor-first=Laura |date=1974 |title=Will the Real Norman Mailer Please Stand Up |location=Port Washington, N.Y. |publisher=Kennikat Press |isbn=0804690669 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BNbAAAAMAAJ |ref=harv}}</ref> She borrowed her title from a 1969 film documentary about Mailer.<ref>Allen King, Director (1968).</ref> The book and the film share the conviction that Mailer is a whirligig whose only identity was the lack of a dominant one. He has been, on different days (and sometimes the same one) a novelist, actor, movie director, pugilist, political candidate,<ref>In1969Mailer ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City; he came
1974, a collection of essays titled ''Will the Real Norman Mailer Please Stand Up'', edited by Laura Adams, appeared.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Adams |editor-first=Laura |date=1974 |title=Will the Real Norman Mailer Please Stand Up |location=Port Washington, N.Y. |publisher=Kennikat Press |isbn=0804690669 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BNbAAAAMAAJ |ref=harv}}</ref> She borrowed her title from a 1969 film documentary about Mailer.<ref>Allen King, Director (1968).</ref> The book and the film share the conviction that Mailer is a whirligig whose only identity was the lack of a dominant one. He has been, on different days (and sometimes the same one) a novelist, actor, movie director, pugilist, political candidate,<ref>In 1969, Mailer ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City; he came
in fourth in a field of five.</ref> political gadfly, public intellectual, sexual warrior, street debater and White Negro. At various times, he has also been a tightrope walker, barroom brawler, bourbon drinker, and guest on nearly every television talk show on the air: from Mike Wallace’s ''Night Beat'' to David Susskind’s ''Omnibus'' to the talk shows of Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, Bob Cromie, Milt Rosenburg, Oprah, the ''60 Minutes'' Wallace, David Frost, and Charlie Rose. And, of late, O’Reilly. And thirty others. For a period in the fifties and sixties, Mailer was part owner of the ''Village Voice'', which he named and co-founded in 1955. Notably uxorious, he has wed six times, divorced five, and for over a quarter of century has been happily married to his sixth wife, [[Norris Church Mailer]].
in fourth in a field of five.</ref> political gadfly, public intellectual, sexual warrior, street debater and White Negro. At various times, he has also been a tightrope walker, barroom brawler, bourbon drinker, and guest on nearly every television talk show on the air: from Mike Wallace’s ''Night Beat'' to David Susskind’s ''Omnibus'' to the talk shows of Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, Bob Cromie, Milt Rosenburg, Oprah, the ''60 Minutes'' Wallace, David Frost, and Charlie Rose. And, of late, O’Reilly. And thirty others. For a period in the fifties and sixties, Mailer was part owner of the ''Village Voice'', which he named and co-founded in 1955. Notably uxorious, he has wed six times, divorced five, and for over a quarter of century has been happily married to his sixth wife, [[Norris Church Mailer]].


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Two of Mailer’s nonfiction narratives, ''[[Of a Fire on the Moon]]'' (1970) and ''[[The Executioner's Song|The Executioner’s Song]]'' (1979), required an extraordinary amount of research and interviewing. For ''The Executioner’s Song'' Mailer and Lawrence Schiller conducted hundreds of interviews with individuals associated with Gary Gilmore; the tapes of many of those interviews are in the Mailer Papers and comprise a brilliant example of extensive and innovative interviewing. Historical researchers and journalists could learn much from a careful study of them. If I remember correctly, a half-dozen archival boxes of material associated with the moon shot book, and 23 with ''The Executioner’s Song'', were among the papers shipped here last year. Both books were nominated for the National Book Award, and ''The Executioner’s Song'' won a Pulitzer in 1980. Besides the obvious interest they will hold for interviewers of the future, and for students of the nonfiction novel, the audiotapes, research notes, court documents, and psychologists’ reports should intrigue those interested in the space program, capital punishment, and our contradictory legal system.
Two of Mailer’s nonfiction narratives, ''[[Of a Fire on the Moon]]'' (1970) and ''[[The Executioner's Song|The Executioner’s Song]]'' (1979), required an extraordinary amount of research and interviewing. For ''The Executioner’s Song'' Mailer and Lawrence Schiller conducted hundreds of interviews with individuals associated with Gary Gilmore; the tapes of many of those interviews are in the Mailer Papers and comprise a brilliant example of extensive and innovative interviewing. Historical researchers and journalists could learn much from a careful study of them. If I remember correctly, a half-dozen archival boxes of material associated with the moon shot book, and 23 with ''The Executioner’s Song'', were among the papers shipped here last year. Both books were nominated for the National Book Award, and ''The Executioner’s Song'' won a Pulitzer in 1980. Besides the obvious interest they will hold for interviewers of the future, and for students of the nonfiction novel, the audiotapes, research notes, court documents, and psychologists’ reports should intrigue those interested in the space program, capital punishment, and our contradictory legal system.


Several of Mailer’s books, fiction and nonfiction, deal with the Kennedy assassination and his presidency, the cold war, and the Vietnam War. I refer to ''[[The Presidential Papers]]'' (1963), ''[[An American Dream]]'' (1965), ''[[Cannibals and Christians]]'' (1966), ''[[Why Are We in Vietnam?]]'' (1967), ''[[The Armies of the Night]]'' (1968), ''[[Miami and the Siege of Chicago]]'' (1968), ''[[Harlot's Ghost|Harlot’s Ghost]]'' (1991), ''[[Oswald's Tale|Oswald’s Tale]]'' (1995), as well as his unpublished screenplay, “Havana,” and his work with Schiller on the story of the FBI spy, Robert Hanssen, which resulted in both a TV docudrama and a book.<ref>''Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story'', produced by Lawrence Schiller, appeared in two parts on CBS, November 10 and 27, 2002; the print version, ''Into the Mirror: The Life of Robert Hanssen'', published by HarperCollins, appeared in April 2002.</ref> No event in American history has reverberated as long and hard for Mailer as Kennedy’s assassination.<ref>See J. Michael and Donna Pedro Lennon’s ''Norman Mailer: Works and Days (Shavertown, PA: Sligo Press, 2000), where Kennedy is cited in 35 entries, more than any other person.</ref> Its powerful influence on his imagination is well documented in the Archive. Future cultural historians of the 1960s, Vietnam, and the cold war may well come to Austin to examine Mailer’s decades-long engagement with them so as to better understand their enduring influence on the nation.
Several of Mailer’s books, fiction and nonfiction, deal with the Kennedy assassination and his presidency, the cold war, and the Vietnam War. I refer to ''[[The Presidential Papers]]'' (1963), ''[[An American Dream]]'' (1965), ''[[Cannibals and Christians]]'' (1966), ''[[Why Are We in Vietnam?]]'' (1967), ''[[The Armies of the Night]]'' (1968), ''[[Miami and the Siege of Chicago]]'' (1968), ''[[Harlot's Ghost|Harlot’s Ghost]]'' (1991), ''[[Oswald’s Tale]]'' (1995), as well as his unpublished screenplay, “Havana,” and his work with Schiller on the story of the FBI spy, Robert Hanssen, which resulted in both a TV docudrama and a book.<ref>''Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story'', produced by Lawrence Schiller, appeared in two parts on CBS, November 10 and 27, 2002; the print version, ''Into the Mirror: The Life of Robert Hanssen'', published by HarperCollins, appeared in April 2002.</ref> No event in American history has reverberated as long and hard for Mailer as Kennedy’s assassination.<ref>See J. Michael and Donna Pedro Lennon’s ''Norman Mailer: Works and Days (Shavertown, PA: Sligo Press, 2000), where Kennedy is cited in 35 entries, more than any other person.</ref> Its powerful influence on his imagination is well documented in the Archive. Future cultural historians of the 1960s, Vietnam, and the cold war may well come to Austin to examine Mailer’s decades-long engagement with them so as to better understand their enduring influence on the nation.


The Archive, as I have said, is massive, the largest single author holding in the HRC, and therefore difficult to characterize with precision. One way to get a quick sense of its diversity is to name some documents that will, I believe, attract very different kinds of researchers. Here are a few items:
The Archive, as I have said, is massive, the largest single author holding in the HRC, and therefore difficult to characterize with precision. One way to get a quick sense of its diversity is to name some documents that will, I believe, attract very different kinds of researchers. Here are a few items:
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