Norman Mailer
| Famous as | Novelist, Journalist and Screen Writer |
| Born on | 31 January 1923 |
| Born in | Long Branch, New Jersey |
| Died on | 10 Novomber 2007 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Works & Achievements | Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award; Notable Works: The Naked and the Dead, The Deer Park, The Executioner's Song |
Childhood & Education
Norman Mailer was born on 31 January 1923 in Long Branch, New
Jersey in America to Isaac Barnett, an accountant and businessman and
his wife Fanny Schneider, who worked in a trucking company. The family
settled in Brooklyn, New York soon after his birth and visited Long
Branch mainly for holidaying at his grandfather’s place who owned a
small hotel there. Mailer had a younger sister Barbara, who was born in
1927. As a child, Mailer took keen interest in writing and wrote a 250
pages long story called Invasion from Mars when he was just nine.
However, it was not until the Harvard University tat he decided to
take writing as a career. He graduated from Boy’s high school and
enrolled in to the Harvard University in year 1939 and received his B.S
degree in aeronautical engineering in 1943. While at Harvard, he became
immensely fascinated with writing and published his first story The
Greatest Thing in The World in 1941 winning the Story magazine’s college
contest. Upon completing his graduation, Mailer joined the U.S. Army
and served in Philippines during the World War II. Though he was not
involved into the combat operation there, his experience in the army
prepared the ground work for his bestselling novel The Naked and the
Dead.
Writing Career
Mailer left the Army in 1946 and published his first novel The
Naked and the Dead in 1948, when he was just 25 years old. At that time,
he was studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. The book, which had extracts
from the events during his Military service in the war, became an
instant success and was ranked among one of the best American
wartime novels. Initially rejected by several publishers because of the
obscenity of its language, the book remained on the New York Times best
seller list for more than 60 weeks and was ranked one of the “One
hundred best novels in English language” by the Modern Library.
Barbary Shore, another novel he published in 1951, was a dramatic
interpretation of the Cold War politics surrounding in Brooklyn. The
book did not receive the similar response and was rejected as a “piece
of banal and ungraceful story”. In late 1940’s, Mailer became associated
with the Hollywood and began to work as a scriptwriter. After returning
to New York City in 1951, he embarked on writing manuscript for his
third novel The Deer Park which was based upon his own experience with
corruption and immorality in Hollywood. The manuscript was rejected
several times before it could come into print after a long time.
Mailer wrote his fourth novel An American Dream in 1964. The book
met with a mixed response and was highly praised by many eminent writers
and critics and is still in print. In 1980, Norman Mailer authored a
book The Executioner’s Song, which gained him the Pulitzer Prize for
fiction in the same year. For the next few years he continued to work
upon “Ancient Evenings”, his novel of Egypt which also became a
bestseller despite some negative reviews it received initially. Harlot’s
Ghost, Mailer’s longest novel was published in 1991. His final novel, The castle
in the Forest was based upon Hitler’s childhood and was his second best
novel after The Naked and the Dead. It was awarded ‘Bad Sex in Fiction’
by the Literary Review magazine.
Mailer as Essayist
In the mid 1950s, Mailer embarked on writing counter culture essays
and gained reputation as an anti-establishment essayist. He wrote an
essay The White Negro: Superficial reflections on the Hipsters in which
he examines the evils in American society putting the blame partly on
the black community. The essay which was originally printed in Dissent
in 1956 and then reprinted in Advertisements for Myself in 1959 was
widely condemned for its blasphemous content. In 1955, he became one of
the founders of The Village Voice, a newspaper, for which he wrote a
column ‘Quickly’ for a short period. Aside from these, he wrote a number
of book reviews and essays for Esquire, The New York Review of Books
and Dissent Magazine. He also worked as a scriptwriter for a movie based
on his novel Tough Guys Don’t Dance in 1987. In 1968, Mailer gained
‘George Polk Award’ for his work in Harper’s magazine.
Marriages & Children
Mailer had six official marriages and several mistresses. He had
eight biological children and adopted one. He married his first wife
Beatrice Silverman in 1944, with whom he had one child Susan. He
divorced Silverman in 1952 and married Adele Morales in 1954. She bore
him two children, both daughters: Danielle and Elizabeth. In 1960,
Mailer stabbed her with a pen knife after an all night party, with an
intention to kill her. Though she was saved and did not press charge
against Mailer, he pleaded guilty and was given a suspended sentence. In
1997, Adele wrote a memoir The Last Party recording her perception of
what happened on the fateful night.
Mailer married his third wife Jeanne Campbell, the British heiress
and journalist, in 1962 and divorced her in 1963. They had a daughter
together, Kate Mailer, an actress. His fourth wife, whom he married in
1963, was a model turned actress Beverly Bentley.
They had two children Michael and Stephen from this marriage, who
became producer and actor respectively. They divorced in 1980 and he
married for the fifth time, to Carol Stevens in the same year. The two
had a daughter Maggie before their marriage. This time the marriage
did not live for long and they divorced two days after their wedding.
Mailer’s sixth and last marriage was to a painter turned writer Norris
Church, whom he married in 1980. They had one son John Buffalo Mailer-a
writer and actor- and Mailer adopted Matthew Norris, her son by her
first husband.
Death Norman Mailer died of acute renal failure on 10 November 2007, at the age of 84 after undergoing a lung surgery. His body rests in a cemetery in New York. | ||||
Timeline: | ||||
1923- Norman Mailer was born on 31 January.
1927- Mailer’s younger sister Barbara was born.
1939- He enrolled in to the Harvard University.
1941- He published his first story The Greatest Thing in The World in 1941 and won the Story magazine’s college contest.
1943-He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Harvard University and joined the U.S. Army.
1944-He married his first wife Beatrice Silverman.
1946- Mailer left the Army.
1948- He published his first novel The Naked and the Dead.
1951- He published another novel Barbary Shore.
1952- He divorced Silverman.
1954- Mailer married Adele.
1955- He became one of the founders of The Village Voice.
1960- Mailer stabbed Adele with a pen knife in an attempt to kill her.
1962- Mailer married his third wife Jeanne Campbell in 1962 and divorced her.
1963- He married his fourth wife Beverly Bentley.
1964- Mailer wrote his fourth novel An American Dream.
1968- Mailer gained ‘George Polk Award’ for his work in Harper’s magazine.
1980- Norman Mailer authored a book The Executioner’s Song.
1980- Norman divorced Bentley and married to Carol Stevens.
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