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Norman Mailer

ノーマン・メイラー

Nōman Meirā

Pen Names: Norman Kingsley Mailer（Pen name used in some publications and signatures）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1923-01-31 （Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.）
Died
2007-11-10 （New York City, U.S.） age 84
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
Long Branch, New Jersey → Brooklyn, New York City → Manhattan, New York City → Provincetown, Massachusetts

Career

Occupations
novelist, essayist, journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter, playwright, poet, columnist
Active Years
1941-2007
Affiliations
The Village Voice (co-founder; investor), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member), Harvard Signet Society (alumnus/member)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters, Harvard Signet Society
Influenced By
James Baldwin, Henry Miller, D. H. Lawrence
Influenced
Writers of New Journalism (e.g. Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese), Later American novelists and cultural commentators
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated several times; shortlisted in 1974), Miami and the Siege of Chicago — National Book Award finalist, Of a Fire on the Moon — National Book Award finalist

Education

Harvard University
Faculty of Engineering (major: Engineering) / Harvard College
Degree: BS
Period: 1939–1943
Year of Graduation: 1943
Country: United States
Studied engineering but took writing courses; published early fiction while an undergraduate
University of Paris
French language and culture courses
Period: 1947–1948
Country: France
Short course in French language and culture

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction)
1969
Work: The Armies of the Night
Category: Nonfiction
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: winner
Pulitzer Prize (Fiction)
1980
Work: The Executioner's Song
Category: Fiction
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: winner
National Book Award (Arts and Letters)
1969
Work: The Armies of the Night
Category: Nonfiction
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
National Book Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
2005
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
Edward MacDowell Medal
1973
Organization: MacDowell
Result: winner
Golden Plate Award (American Academy of Achievement)
2004
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: winner
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
2002
Organization: Government of Austria
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Naked and the Dead

1948 War novel 720 pages

A World War II novel set in the Pacific (Philippines) focusing on a patrol and exploring soldiers' psychology, leadership and the dehumanizing effects of war.

warindividual vs. grouppower and obedience

The Armies of the Night

1968 Nonfiction / Creative nonfiction (New Journalism) 320 pages

An account of the 1967 march on the Pentagon interwoven with the author's reflections; an experimental work blending history and novelistic techniques.

protestself and historypolitics and morality

The Executioner's Song

1979 Nonfiction novel (true-crime novel) 560 pages

A 'real-life novel' based on the life and execution of Gary Gilmore, examining crime, capital punishment and American society.

crimecapital punishmentAmerican society
Adaptations
  • [Television film] The Executioner's Song (TV) / Lawrence Schiller (1982)

The Castle in the Forest

2007 Historical fiction 400 pages

A fictional exploration of Hitler's childhood and formative years; one of Mailer's late works and intended as the first of a trilogy.

historyorigins of evilformation of the individual

Bibliography

  • The Naked and the Dead
  • Barbary Shore
  • The Deer Park
  • An American Dream
  • Why Are We in Vietnam?
  • The Armies of the Night
  • The Executioner's Song
  • Ancient Evenings
  • Harlot's Ghost
  • The Castle in the Forest

Adaptations

  • The Executioner's Song (TV film, 1982)
  • Tough Guys Don't Dance (film, 1987)
  • Maidstone (experimental film, 1968–1970)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
creative nonfiction (New Journalism)illeism (referring to self in the third person)mix of experimental and narrative techniques
Recurring Motifs
violence and existentialismmasculinity and gender dynamicsindividual versus societypolitics and moral ambiguityfame and desire

Health

  • acute renal failure
    2007（晩年、肺手術後の合併症）
    Died in 2007 of acute renal failure after undergoing lung surgery earlier that year.

Legacy

Norman Mailer was a controversial and influential postwar American writer, a pioneer of New Journalism, a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner, and left extensive archives and a lasting literary legacy.

Museums

  • Wilkes University Farley Library (replica of Mailer's last study) Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S. Opened in 2019
  • Berta Walker Gallery (exhibition of Mailer's drawings) Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S. Opened in 2007

Academic Societies

  • Norman Mailer Society

Archives

  • Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin) holds a large Norman Mailer archive
  • Harvard University (holds boxes of material donated by associates)

In Popular Culture

  • Mentioned in popular culture (e.g. referenced in the GWAR song 'Vlad the Impaler')
  • Documentary 'How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer' released (2023)

Quotes

  • The army was the worst experience of my life, and also the most important.
    Source: Interview / personal recollection
  • Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.
    Source: Essay / remark

Trivia

  • Married six times and fathered nine children.
  • Co-founded The Village Voice in 1955.
  • In 1960 he stabbed his wife Adele Morales; pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and received three years' probation.
  • Reportedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times.