Courtly Norman

The Legacy Derby

Authors

  • Donald L. Kaufmann University of South Florida Author

Keywords:

literary legacy, authorial persona, celebrity culture, canon and character, media reception, American literary reputation

Abstract

Norman Mailer’s status as a writer should be determined by the canon of his work and not by his biography. Any consideration of Mailer’s legacy must take into account the conspicuous Mailer canon: two Pulitzer Prizes and other major awards (except for the Nobel). There are over forty books, several truly weighty novels, stories and poems, and much nonfiction, including essays, articles, literary criticism, stage and screenplays, TV and film, ventures (actor, director, critic), and much of ephemera. There is also, perhaps, this age’s most voluminous letter writing, many of which are astonishingly creative and revealing.

Author Biography

  • Donald L. Kaufmann, University of South Florida

    Donald L. Kaufmann is Professor of English at the University of South Florida, where he has taught American literature and creative writing since coming to USF from the University of Alaska in 1965. He is the author of Norman Mailer: The Countdown: The First Twenty Years (Southern Illinois University Press, 1969), one of the first two books to appear on the work of Norman Mailer. He has also published essays on Updike, Bellow, Hemingway, and other twentieth-century American writers. Professor Kaufmann holds one of the largest Mailer collections of books, stories, essays, memorabilia, and ephemera.

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Published

2026-03-14

Issue

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

Section

Articles