Submissions

Articles

Articles publishes original, peer-reviewed scholarship on the life, works, and cultural contexts of Norman Mailer. Contributions may address Mailer’s fiction, nonfiction, journalism, correspondence, archival materials, and reception, as well as broader questions of postwar American literature, literary journalism, politics, masculinity, war, and cultural history where Mailer’s work is centrally implicated. Submissions should engage existing scholarship and make a clear critical or archival intervention. All articles are evaluated through a double-blind peer review process.

Review Essays

Review Essays are extended critical engagements that situate one or more recent scholarly works within broader intellectual, historical, or theoretical contexts relevant to the study of Norman Mailer and related literary, cultural, and political traditions.

Unlike standard book reviews, review essays are argumentative and synthetic in scope. They assess the significance of recent scholarship, identify prevailing debates or methodological trends, and offer original critical perspectives that contribute meaningfully to ongoing conversations in the field.

Review essays may address:

• Multiple books on a shared theme or problem

• A major new work in relation to an established critical tradition

• Developments in Mailer studies or adjacent fields (e.g., postwar American literature, biography, masculinity studies, political writing)

Submissions to this section are peer reviewed. Review essays are typically commissioned by the editors, though unsolicited proposals may be considered. Authors are encouraged to consult with the editorial team prior to submission.

Review essays should demonstrate:

• Clear critical purpose and argumentative coherence

• Engagement with relevant secondary scholarship

• Accessibility to a broad scholarly readership

Archival Materials

The Archival Materials section publishes primary documents, recovered texts, and archival artifacts that illuminate the life, work, and cultural milieu of Norman Mailer, as well as materials of broader relevance to literary and historical research.

Contributions to this section may include:

• Unpublished or previously inaccessible documents

• Letters, journals, drafts, or fragments

• Annotated reproductions or transcriptions

• Contextualized archival discoveries from public or private collections

Submissions should be accompanied by a scholarly introduction or contextual note that situates the material historically and critically. Contributors are responsible for securing appropriate permissions and clearly indicating the provenance and status of all materials.

Items published in this section are editorially reviewed, rather than peer reviewed, with emphasis on scholarly value, clarity of presentation, and ethical handling of archival sources.

The Archival Materials section reflects the journal’s commitment to primary research, documentary recovery, and the preservation of literary history.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews publishes critical evaluations of recent books that contribute to the study of Norman Mailer, mid-twentieth-century American literature, literary journalism, cultural history, and related fields. Reviews situate works within existing scholarship and assess their methodological, archival, or critical contributions. Book reviews are typically commissioned by the editors and are evaluated internally by the editorial team. Unsolicited proposals may be considered at the editors’ discretion.

Notes

Notes publishes brief scholarly contributions that present focused arguments, archival discoveries, textual analyses, bibliographic findings, or methodological observations relevant to the study of Norman Mailer and his contexts. Notes may address a single passage, document, problem, or research question and are intended to advance scholarship through precision rather than scope. Submissions are reviewed by the editors and, when appropriate, by external readers.

Creative Works

Creative Works publishes original poetry, short fiction, and multimodal compositions that engage Norman Mailer’s literary, political, or cultural legacy, or that explore themes central to his work, including war, masculinity, power, sexuality, authorship, and American public life. Submissions are selected by the editors for quality, relevance, and contribution to the journal’s intellectual conversation. Creative works are not subject to external peer review.