Long Legs, the American Tolstoy, Oswald and the KGB

A Conversation with Lawrence Schiller

Authors

  • J. Michael Lennon Wilkes University Author

Keywords:

literary biography, authorial personality, masculinity, sexual politics, twentieth-century American literature

Abstract

Norman Mailer’s authorized biographer explores the complex background and circumstances of Oswald’s Tale with Lawrence Schiller, who accompanied Mailer to Russia on several occasions. The discussion covers the entire project, from Schiller’s earlier Russian contacts made during the filming of his 1986 NBC mini-series, Peter the Great, through the complicated and exhausting negotiations with the KGB, the interviews Mailer and Schiller had with Marina Oswald after they returned, and ending with an assessment of the final work and its place in Mailer’s literary legacy.

Author Biography

  • 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.

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Published

2026-03-14

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2009): Beyond Fiction

Section

Interviews