The Mailer Review/Volume 3, 2009/Long Legs, the American Tolstoy, Oswald and the KGB: A Conversation with Lawrence Schiller: Difference between revisions

{{Byline|last=Lennon|first=J. Michael|abstract=[[Norman Mailer]]’s authorized biographer explores the complex background and circumstances of ''[[Oswald’s Tale]]'' with [[Lawrence Schiller]], who accompanied Mailer to Russia on several occasions. The discussion covers the entire project, from Schiller’s earlier Russian contacts made during the filming of his 1986 NBC mini-series, ''Peter the Great'', through the complicated and exhausting negotiations with the KGB, the interviews Mailer and Schiller had with Marina Oswald after they returned, and ending with an assessment of the final work and its place in Mailer’s literary legacy.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr09lenn}}

The editor of ''{{MR}}'' asked me to continue the series of conversations begun with Lawrence Schiller on his literary collaboration with Mailer, which extended over three decades. Schiller’s conversation with Jeffrey Severs focused on ''[[The Executioner's Song|The Executioner’s Song]]'' (1979) — from conception to the Emmy-winning television mini-series (1982). My assignment was to interview Schiller concerning his foundational work on ''Oswald’s Tale'' (1995), with a focus on the successful effort to obtain access to the long-sealed KGB records of Lee Harvey Oswald’s time in Moscow and Minsk. Schiller graciously agreed to discuss the project and we met twice, once at his home in Woodland Hills California on September 18, 2008, and on June 7, 2009 at the Mailer home in Provincetown, now the headquarters of The Mailer Writers Colony. Our discussion ranged over the entire project, from Schiller’s earlier Russian contacts made during the filming of his 1986 NBC mini-series, Peter the Great, through the complicated and exhausting negotiations with the KGB, the interviews Mailer and Schiller had with Marina Oswald after they returned, and ending with an assessment of the final work and its place in Mailer’s literary legacy. Schiller and I tightened and organized the transcript of our talks, adding and correcting details but the final version, which follows, is generally faithful to the original conversations.