Norman Mailer: A Double Life
J. Michael Lennon
- The
- “glorious…sweeping,
- full-scale
- biography”
- of
- Norman
- Mailer,
- the
- famous
- novelist,
- journalist,
- and
- public
- figure:
- “There’s
- not
- a
- paragraph
- in
- this
- enormous
- book
- that
- doesn’t
- contain
- a
- nugget
- of
- something
- you…wish
- you
- had
- known”
- (The
- New
- York
- Times).Norman
- Mailer
- was
- one
- of
- the
- giants
- of
- American
- letters,
- and
- one
- of
- the
- most
- celebrated
- public
- figures
- of
- his
- time.
- He
- was
- a
- novelist,
- journalist,
- biographer,
- and
- filmmaker;
- a
- provocateur
- and
- passionate
- observer
- of
- his
- times;
- and
- a
- husband,
- father,
- and
- serial
- philanderer.Perhaps
- nothing
- characterized
- Mailer
- more
- than
- his
- ambition.
- He
- wanted
- not
- merely
- to
- be
- the
- greatest
- writer
- of
- his
- generation,
- but
- a
- writer
- great
- enough
- to
- be
- compared
- to
- Dostoevsky
- and
- Tolstoy.
- As
- Michael
- Lennon
- describes,
- although
- he
- considered
- himself
- first
- and
- foremost
- a
- novelist,
- his
- greatest
- literary
- contribution
- may
- have
- been
- in
- journalism,
- where
- he
- used
- his
- novelistic
- gifts
- to
- explore
- the
- American
- psyche.
- He
- would
- return
- to
- certain
- subjects
- obsessively:
- John
- F.
- Kennedy,
- Marilyn
- Monroe,
- sex,
- technology,
- and
- the
- intricate
- relationship
- of
- fame
- and
- identity.
- Lennon
- captures
- Mailer
- in
- all
- his
- sharp
- complexities
- and
- shows
- us
- how
- he
- self-consciously
- invented
- and
- re-invented
- himself
- throughout
- his
- lifetime.Michael
- Lennon
- knew
- Mailer
- for
- thirty-five
- years,
- and
- in
- this
- definitive
- biography,
- he
- had
- the
- cooperation
- of
- Mailer’s
- late
- widow,
- Norris
- Church,
- his
- ex-wives,
- and
- all
- of
- his
- children,
- as
- well
- as
- his
- sister,
- Barbara.
- He
- also
- had
- access
- to
- Mailer’s
- vast,
- unpublished
- correspondence
- and
- papers,
- and
- he
- interviewed
- dozens
- of
- people
- who
- knew
- Mailer.
- In
- Norman
- Mailer:
- A
- Double
- Life
- he
- “brings
- Mailer
- thoroughly
- alive
- in
- this
- great
- wallop
- of
- a
- book…and
- he
- captures
- the
- entirety
- of
- a
- man
- who
- embodied
- his
- era
- like
- no
- other”
- (The
- Washington Post).
