Reflections

We are at a particularly exciting time in Mailer Studies with the publication of four penetrating books on Norman Mailer from a diverse range of perspectives: Maggie McKinley (Editor), Norman Mailer in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2021); Barbara Mailer Wasserman, Love of My Life: A Memoir (Arbitrary Press, 2021); J. Michael Lennon, Mailer’s Last Days: Remembrances (Etruscan Press, 2022); and Robert J. Begiebing, Norman Mailer at 100: Conversations, Correlations, and Confrontations (Louisiana State University Press, 2022). Our insight into Mailer’s life and work is deeply enriched by these cogent tomes.

This year is also a time of sadness. Two friends and deep admirers of Norman Mailer’s work passed away. Dean Pappas, beloved husband of former Norman Mailer Board member Denise Pappas, was a dedicated member of the Mailer Society and attended annual conferences for many years. Dean was a medical doctor by profession, but at our meetings he was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable Mailerian, who could be counted on to provide crisp and informed analytical insight into a wide range of topics. Yet Dean was also incredibly warm and collegial, as well as in possession of a sharp wit and he will be dearly missed by those who knew him. Morris Dickstein was a personal friend of Mailer as well as an intellectual colleague for decades. Dickstein was an esteemed literary scholar who contributed significantly to cultural studies and his major books include Leopards in the Temple: The Transformation of American Fiction, 1945–1970 (Harvard UP, 2002) and Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression (Norton, 2009). Dickstein’s contribution to intellectual history will be long remembered, as well as his friendship with Mailer.

When I look back at our production over a decade and a half (6,000+ pages), I am reminded of how things have added up over time, qualitatively and quantitively. Each issue seems to be autonomous when it is being prepared but a larger perspective reveals, I believe, that all fifteen volumes are inextricably interrelated to our foundational purpose as we strive to address topics and issues germane to particular times and circumstances in Norman Mailer’s life and work.

We look forward to this year’s annual Mailer conference (June 8–10), which will be held at Monmouth University, and we eagerly anticipate the Norman Mailer Centenary Conference (April 20–22, 2023), which will be held at the University of Texas in Austin, where Mailer’s archives are located. Our Volume 16 centenary issue of the Review will include contributions that reflect upon this important landmark for Mailer Studies.

So, on to Norman Mailer’s 100th birthday on January 31, 2023.