Memories of Norman Mailer
Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100, ed. Gerald R. Lucas and Maggie McKinley (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 80; transcribed from the final interior PDF
From Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100 (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 80.
Once, when my wife Carolyn and I visited Norman and Norris Mailer in Provincetown, I routinely asked, “How are you doing, Norman?” “Mark,” he counseled sternly, “never ask that question of a man in his eighties unless you’re prepared for a full and complete answer!”
Norman was always surprising. When I interviewed him at the Cosmos Club in Washington, he declared that he thought he had had six literary styles in his career, corresponding to his six wives. “I guess that’s why I’ve only had one style,” I said.
“Point taken!” he replied.
But what surprised me most about this last of the literary lions was his courage, honesty, and generosity. He never rested on his laurels, instead trying something new and risky for each new venture and always standing up for what he believed, such as his public support of Salman Rushdie. He confessed to me over lunch that his two greatest and lasting regrets were stabbing his wife Adele and supporting Jack Henry Abbott’s release from prison. And perhaps most surprising was his generosity, transforming our casual meeting into a lasting friendship, connecting me with his fascinating family and treating me as an intellectual equal.
That was the Norman Mailer I cherish.
Mark Olshaker