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Reflecting a long and prolific literary career, this collection of
Norman Mailer, assembled by collector Thomas Fiske, includes typescript drafts,
playscripts, screenplays, galleys and proofs, dust jackets, posters, lobby
cards, publicity, poems, sheet music, articles by and about Mailer,
correspondence, interviews, campaign materials, personal papers, photographs,
programs, and speeches. The collection is organized in two series: I. Works and
Associated Material, 1942-1997; and II. Career-Related and Personal,
1935-2005. |
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The works series contains material for film, fiction and non-fiction
works, plays, and other writings. Films represented are
Beyond the Law (1968),
The Deer Park (1982),
The Executioner's Song (1982),
King Lear (1987),
Maidstone (1970),
Ragtime (1981),
Tough Guys Don't Dance (1986),
Town Bloody Hall: A Dialogue on Women's
Liberation (1979), and
Wild 90 (1967). Mailer's fiction and
nonfiction works include
Cannibals and Christians (1966);
The Executioner's Song (1979);
"The Foundation" (1942), working title
for the novella
"A Calculus at Heaven" (Cross-Section, 1944);
The Gospel According to the Son (1997);
Harlot's Ghost (1991);
The Prisoner of Sex (1971);
The White Negro (1959); and
Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967). Two plays,
The Deer Park and
Strawhead, are also present. Other
writings include two published contributions,
"The Last Draft of The
Deer Park" and
"Rounding Camelot, 1958-1967."
Published excerpts and other short works are also found in numerous serials
included with the collection. |
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Series II. Career-Related and Personal includes articles by and about
Mailer, correspondence, interviews, personal papers, photographs and
portraiture, and programs related to public appearances. The correspondence
dates from 1946-1996. Included are Mailer's outgoing letters to Peter Arthurs,
Tom Fiske, and Howard Sounes. Of particular interest is a 1946 letter to Angus
Cameron, an editor at Little, Brown, concerning the editing of profanity in
The Naked and the Dead. A number of Mailer
print and television interview transcripts are present, including the newspaper
Exposé (1956), William F. Buckley, Jr.
(1979), David Frost (1992), Charlie Rose (1993 and 1997), and Sean Abbott for
At Random (1997). Also present are
writings by Mailer scholar and archivist, J. Michael Lennon, especially his
edited volume of correspondence,
Norman Mailer's Letters on An American Dream,
1963-1969 (2004). |
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Testifying to Mailer's eclectic career, this series also contains
material on Mailer's unsuccessful 1969 campaign with Jimmy Breslin for New York
City municipal leadership. The programs and print material related to public
appearances range from his 1943 Harvard commencement program to conferences,
symposia, literary festivals, debates, readings, benefits, and events at the
92nd Street Y Poetry Center. Mailer's speeches include his acceptance speech
for the 1969 National Book Award and the 1995 spring commencement address at
Wilkes University. |
