Introduction to the Taschen Edition of Norman Mailer’s The Fight: A Meeting of Giants

Authors

  • J. Michael Lennon Wilkes University Author

Keywords:

The Fight, Muhammad Ali, boxing, George Foreman, New Journalism, Zaire

Abstract

An introduction to the Taschen edition of The Fight traces Mailer’s long friendship with Muhammad Ali, from their 1963 meeting through “King of the Hill” to the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” against George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. The essay places The Fight among the masterpieces of New Journalism and discusses Mailer’s portrait of Ali’s psyche and ring artistry, his depiction of Zaire under Mobutu and the Congolese notion of n’golo, his own superstitious partisanship, and Ali’s rope-a-dope victory.

Author Biography

  • J. Michael Lennon, Wilkes University

    J. Michael Lennon is the late Norman Mailer’s archivist, editor, authorized biographer. Norman Mailer: A Double Life appeared in 2013, and Selected Letters of Norman Mailer in 2104. His work has appeared in Paris Review, New Yorker, New York, Times Literary Supplement, Creative Nonfiction, NYRB, Mailer Review, Playboy, Hippocampus, and Provincetown Arts, among others. Currently, he is editing two volumes of Mailer’s work from the 1960s for February 2018 publication by the Library of America.

Downloads

Published

2017-10-26

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Lennon, J. Michael. “Introduction to the Taschen Edition of Norman Mailer’s The Fight: A Meeting of Giants”. The Mailer Review, vol. 11, no. 1, Oct. 2017, pp. 35–39, https://mailerreview.org/journal/article/view/610.