Michael Lennon - Norman Mailer - a double life

self-blame of, in Adan’s murder, 566

on sexual anxieties, 44

sexual superiority of blacks believed by, 189, 209, 211

smell seen as primal sense by, 330–31

smoking by, 215, 243, 246, 268, 310, 330–31, 339

speaking engagements and interviews of, 324, 337, 363, 439, 452, 453, 456–57, 476–77, 484, 486, 517, 537, 538, 539, 548–49, 561–62, 569, 578, 599, 601, 627, 652–53, 660, 693, 701, 727–28, 736, 738, 742, 745, 751, 756, 757

Spengler’s influence on, 63–64

sports betting schemes of, 508–9

Stern’s interview with, 238–39

Styron’s rekindled friendship with, 566

technology distrusted by, 77, 97, 367–68, 398, 422, 427, 436, 444, 551, 576

theater as lifetime interest of, 50

third-person self references of, 199

in Town Hall debate, 441–43, 444–45

on U.S. as failing to achieve promise, 303–4

as Vanity Fair Writer-in-Residence, 646, 653

Vidal’s Dick Cavett Show debate with, 449–51

Vidal’s fight with, 513–14

as Village Voice partner, 194–95, 199, 204, 404, 452, 487, 523

violence avoided by, 16–17

vision problems of, 702, 708, 755

at Waldorf Conference, 115–16, 650–51

in Wallace campaign, 110–12, 116

Zelda, Scott, & Ernest performed by, 715–16, 718, 725

Mailer, Norman, army service of, 59–85

in basic training, 59–61

Combat Infantryman’s Badge awarded to, 69

as cook, 78–79, 80

demotion of, 84

at Fort Ord, 62, 63

honorable discharge of, 85

induction of, 59

as mess sergeant, 80, 83–84

in occupation of Japan, 78–81

in Philippines, 65–77

Mailer, Norman, at Harvard, 25–55

on Advocate board, 37, 39, 42, 47

Advocate’ s rejection of, 30

on football team, 36

graduation of, 55

pinup collection of, 26–27

short stories written by, 30, 33, 34–35, 37–38, 42, 46–48

in Signet Society, 38–39, 42

as unprepared, 26

Mailer, Norman, journals of:

Bellevue diary, 287–88

at Harvard, 29–30, 32, 43, 45, 48, 53–54

of 1952, 140–42, 144, 146

and NM’s need for fame, 2–3

wartime letters to Bea as substitute for, 60

see also “Lipton’s Journal” (Mailer)

Mailer, Norman, writings of:

author as character in, 322

in childhood, 15–16

Commentary columns of, 7

Davis’s mentoring of, 35, 37

drafts of, shared with NM’s friends and family, 152–53

dualism as theme in, 359, 434, 453, 463, 468–69, 635–36

Esquire columns of, 300, 315, 316–17, 320, 324, 333, 344

excrement as subject in, 310–11, 575, 579

experience as primacy of, 160

“fear ladder” concept in, 50–51

in girlie magazine, 224, 228

good review/bad review advertisements for, 134, 198

Harvard short stories of, 30, 33, 34–35, 37–38, 42, 46–48

Henry Adams’s influence on, 392

Las Vegas as touchstone in, 331

Lawrence’s influence on, 439

in multinovel projects, 144–45, 151, 154, 495

narcissistic cycles in, 727

nature as depicted in, 63, 379

and NM’s approach to writing novels, 159–60

NM’s routine in, 714–15

occasional pieces of, 324, 337

point of view in, 155–56, 236

politics as underlying theme of, 160

power as theme of, 4, 64, 93, 262

redundancy in, 636

self-interviews, 300–302

sex in, 32–33, 57–58

smell as key subject in, 331, 579, 583, 584

on sports, 320–22

Story contest won by, 39–40, 48

style in, 257–58

unfinished “big novel” of, 243, 244, 251, 254, 256, 273, 300, 305, 306, 310, 312, 324, 325–26, 360, 362

use of third-person personal in, 383, 386, 396, 420, 483

Village Voice columns of, 200–202, 203–5, 212, 228, 333

see also Spooky Art, The: Thoughts on Writing (Mailer); specific titles

Mailer, Norris Church (NM’s sixth wife), 153, 343, 346, 354, 489–91, 537, 538–39, 599, 623, 713, 743, 744

Abbott and, 552–53, 555–56, 557

acting career of, 624

brief affairs of, 662, 663, 667

cancer of, 708, 725, 736, 747, 754

Capote’s warning about NM to, 531

Carol’s friendship with, 500, 758

collaborations of NM and, 581

Donaldson’s interview with NM and, 661

dual personas of, 488

fiction by, 624, 708–11, 717, 730, 755, 757, 760

in last move to Brooklyn, 754–55

marriage of NM and, 124, 525, 537, 549, 550, 608, 624, 626, 628, 663–64, 667, 695, 717–18, 722, 725, 731, 741–42, 761

modeling by, 493–94

near-breakup of NM and, 652, 654–55, 660–63

with NM on Harlot’s Ghost book tour, 659–60

and NM’s affair with Mallory, 594–95, 610, 691

NM’s confessions to, 656

NM’s correspondence with, 487–89, 490, 494, 498

and NM’s death, 762, 763

and NM’s declining health, 756, 758

on NM’s fascination with violence, 564

NM’s finances handled by, 507

NM’s first meeting with, 484–85

NM’s infidelities and, 594–95, 610, 626, 651, 652, 654–57, 662–63, 666–67, 681, 682, 691

and NM’s political ambitions, 697

NM’s “treaty” with, 742

painting by, 601, 616, 628

playwriting of, 624

pregnancy of, 508, 517, 522

premarital relationship of NM and, 485–86, 487, 491–93, 494, 498, 499, 500, 506–7, 513–14, 522

as Provincetown Repertory Theater artistic director, 723, 729

Ticket to the Circus by, 124, 485, 494, 500, 507, 564, 626, 723

time split between Provincetown and Brooklyn by, 748–49

ultimatum letter of, 656, 659

wedding of NM and, 524–25

Zelda, Scott, & Ernest performed by, 715–17, 718, 725

Mailer, Stephen McLeod, 364, 402, 430, 475, 490, 491, 499, 508, 525, 546, 601, 606, 661, 732, 743, 747, 762

acting career of, 616, 622, 623, 737

on NM’s betting schemes, 508–9

NM’s relationship with, 616

Mailer, Susan, 125, 126, 130, 134, 151, 156, 158, 161, 162, 172, 176, 178, 216, 218, 239, 267, 297, 382, 429, 444, 459, 470, 478, 486, 491, 502, 537, 539, 549, 570, 601, 604, 606, 627, 656, 731, 732, 758

and Adele’s stabbing, 290–91

birth of, 119, 121

NM’s letters to, 692–93

psychoanalytic career of, 615–16

Mailer and Troll, 124

Mailer family:

Bea’s first meeting of, 50, 55

Crown Heights apartment of, 16, 17

Flatbush apartment of, 15

in Johannesburg, 7, 10

“Mailer Log” (Lennon), 714–15, 734, 735–36, 750

Main Event, The (film), 547

Majeski, Bill, 558–61, 562, 666, 672, 722, 759

Making It (Podhoretz), 378, 394–96

Malamud, Bernard, 260

Malaquais, Dominique, 555

Malaquais, Elisabeth, 689–90

Malaquais, Galy, 118, 121, 135, 136, 210

Malaquais, Jean, 100, 113, 116, 118, 129, 135, 136, 153, 195, 205, 208, 210, 296, 370, 555, 559, 566

Abbott and, 603–4

on Barbary Shore, 135

death of, 690

Naked and the Dead translated by, 101, 112, 119, 121

NM on, 100–101

NM’s ARTE interview and break with, 687–90, 694

NM’s changed relationship with, 185–86, 527

and NM’s JFK assassination obsession, 377

NM’s letters to, 211, 212, 224, 225–26, 615

as NM’s political mentor, 101, 111, 112, 116–17, 118, 121, 164, 166, 526–27, 598, 688

screenwriting of, 118, 122, 126

Mallory, Carole, 657, 661

interviews by, 593–94, 626

NM’s affair with, 592–97, 610, 625–26, 655, 691

NM’s break with, 657

Malraux, André, 32, 46, 51, 335, 688