The Touchdown Twins

James Jones and Norman Mailer

Authors

  • J. Michael Lennon Wilkes University Author

Keywords:

James Jones, From Here to Eternity, Lowney Handy, war novel, Hemingway, interview

Abstract

In a June 14, 1983, interview at the Little, Brown offices in New York, Mailer tells J. Michael Lennon about his friendship and rivalry with James Jones, from reading From Here to Eternity in manuscript and visiting Jones at the Handy Colony to their differences as writers. Mailer reflects on Lowney Handy, Hemingway’s influence, Jones’s vision of men at war, and his place as an American writer.

Author Biography

  • J. Michael Lennon, Wilkes University

    J. Michael Lennon is the late Norman Mailer’s archivist, editor, authorized biographer. Norman Mailer: A Double Lifeappeared 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

2020-10-15

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Lennon, J. Michael. “The Touchdown Twins: James Jones and Norman Mailer”. The Mailer Review, vol. 14, no. 1, Oct. 2020, pp. 29–35, https://mailerreview.org/journal/article/view/719.