Norman Mailer's Best Sellers

Authors

best sellers, publishing history, postwar American literature, literary reputation, critical reception, commercial success

A brief history of Mailer’s books on the New York Times best seller list.

J. Michael Lennon, Wilkes University

J. Michael Lennon is Norman Mailer’s archivist, editor, and authorized biographer and has written/edited several books about him, including (with Donna Pedro Lennon) Norman Mailer: Works and Days (2000), Critical Essays on Norman Mailer (1986), Conversations With Norman Mailer (1988), The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing (2003) and numerous essays in journals and magazines. His work has appeared in New Yorker, Paris Review, Playboy, Provincetown Arts, New York, Modern Fiction Studies, New England Review, Narrative, and Journal of Modern Literature, among others. His latest book, co-authored with Mailer, is On God: An Uncommon Conversation (October 2007). Lennon is currently editing Mailer’s letters and researching the biography. Lennon’s documentary, James Jones: From Reveille to Taps, was shown on PBS in 1985. He is Emeritus Vice President for Academic Affairs and Emeritus Professor of English at Wilkes University, where he continues to teach in the MFA Program, and is President of The Norman Mailer Society.