Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100

A centenary commemorative volume of short reflections on Mailer by scholars, writers, and critics, edited by Gerald R. Lucas and Maggie McKinley and published by the Norman Mailer Society to mark his hundredth birthday and its twentieth annual conference.

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Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100 is a centenary volume edited by Gerald R. Lucas and Maggie McKinley and published by the Norman Mailer Society on 20 February 2023, to coincide with the Society’s twentieth annual conference and with the hundredth anniversary of Mailer’s birth on 31 January 1923. It gathers short remembrances from friends, family, fellow writers, editors, filmmakers, and academics — a collective portrait shaped by proximity rather than by a single critical frame.

Conceived as a centenary book rather than a traditional festschrift, the volume does not advance a unified argument but “register[s] how [Mailer] is remembered, contested, and interpreted by readers who have worked with his writing across decades.” As co-editors, Lucas and McKinley selected and organized the reflections, edited the collection, and wrote the introduction situating it within Mailer studies and centenary discourse. The cover and interior were designed by Giles Hoover. The volume has sixty-one contributors, from Allen Ahearn to Barbara Wasserman, and ends with notes on the contributors. ISBN 979-8-218-11551-7; Library of Congress Control Number 2022921995.

The editors’ introduction is reproduced in full. Each contribution gets its own page once its author gives permission; the linked entries below are the ones posted so far.

Contents

• pp. vii–viii — Editors’ Introduction (Lucas and McKinley)
• p. 2 — Allen Ahearn, remembrance
• p. 3 — Carol Holmes Alpern, “Norman and the Mad Grad Student”
• p. 4 — Peter Alson, “How Norris Got a New Kitchen”
• p. 6 — Judith Aronson, photographs
• p. 8 — Peter Balbert, “The Seminar Table at Trinity University”
• p. 10 — Robert J. Begiebing, “Let’s Do the Twist”
• p. 11 — Mashey Bernstein, “Norman: ‘My Friend for Life’”
• p. 13 — Jackson R. Bryer, remembrance
• p. 14 — James Campbell, remembrance
• p. 15 — PJ Capelotti, remembrance
• p. 16 — Monica Cardenas, remembrance
• p. 17 — Sal Cetrano, remembrance
• p. 18 — Maureen Corrigan, remembrance
• p. 20 — Bonnie Culver, remembrance
• p. 21 — Don DeLillo, “Nobody Could Sleep”
• p. 22 — David Denby, remembrance
• p. 23 — Nicole DePolo, “Mailer’s Crucible”
• p. 25 — Salvatore J. Fallica, remembrance
• p. 26 — Ronald K. Fried, “The Norman Mailer Writers Colony – July 2010”
• p. 27 — Matthew Hinton, remembrance
• p. 28 — Kaylie Jones, remembrance
• p. 30 — Rudy Langlais, “Mailer at the Century Plaza”
• p. 33 — Sasha Lazard, “Breakfast with Norman”
• p. 35 — Donna Lennon, remembrance
• p. 36 — James Lennon, remembrance
• p. 38 — J. Michael Lennon, remembrance
• p. 39 — Joseph Lennon, remembrance
• p. 40 — Peter K. Lennon, “Mailer Meets Abbott”
• p. 42 — Stephen Lennon, remembrance
• p. 44 — Gerald R. Lucas, “Meeting Mailer”
• p. 46 — Danielle Mailer, “Superman”
• p. 48 — Elizabeth Mailer, remembrance
• p. 51 — John Buffalo Mailer, “The Other Side”
• p. 53 — Kate Mailer, “Devils Dancing”
• p. 55 — Maggie Mailer, “Breathing Lessons”
• p. 56 — Matt Mailer, remembrance
• p. 58 — Michael Mailer, remembrance
• p. 61 — Salina S. Mailer, “Listen. You two were never meant to be together.”
• p. 63 — Stephen Mailer, “DAD?”
• p. 65 — Susan Mailer, “Mr. Cappuccino”
• p. 67 — Christina Mailer-Nastasi, remembrance
• p. 70 — Elisabeth Malaquais, remembrance
• p. 71 — Colum McCann, remembrance
• p. 72 — Peter McEachern, “An Epic Procedure”
• p. 73 — Jay McInerney, remembrance
• p. 74 — Maggie McKinley, remembrance
• p. 75 — Jeffrey Michelson, “The Gift of Being Buddies With a Genius”
• p. 77 — Frank J. Nastasi, remembrance
• p. 79 — MaryLynn Navarro, “My Moment with Norman Mailer”
• p. 80 — Mark Olshaker, “Memories of Norman Mailer”
• p. 81 — Tom Piazza, remembrance
• p. 83 — Christopher Ricks, “Maileriana”
• p. 85 — Carl Rollyson, remembrance
• p. 86 — Lawrence Schiller, remembrance
• p. 88 — Kevin M. Schultz, remembrance
• p. 89 — Phillip Sipiora, “A Nobody Becomes a Somebody”
• p. 90 — Oliver Stone, remembrance
• p. 93 — Gay Talese, remembrance
• p. 94 — Taki Theodoracopulos, “Remembering Norman”
• p. 95 — Martha Thomases, remembrance
• p. 96 — Barbara Wasserman, remembrance
• p. 97 — Contributors (notes on the contributors)

Related pages

• Gerald R. Lucas | Maggie McKinley | Norman Mailer Society
• 2023

First published: 2023-02-20
Form: collection
Cite as: /works/2023-02-20-reflections
Last updated: 2026-10-16