Thomas Fiske:

A Preliminary Inventory of His Collection of Norman Mailer at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Scope and Contents

Reflecting a long and prolific literary career, this collection of Norman Mailer, assembled by collector Thomas Fiske, includes typescript drafts, playscripts, screenplays, galleys and proofs, dust jackets, posters, lobby cards, publicity, poems, sheet music, articles by and about Mailer, correspondence, interviews, campaign materials, personal papers, photographs, programs, and speeches. The collection is organized in two series: I. Works and Associated Material, 1942-1997; and II. Career-Related and Personal, 1935-2005.

The works series contains material for film, fiction and non-fiction works, plays, and other writings. Films represented are Beyond the Law (1968), The Deer Park (1982), The Executioner's Song (1982), King Lear (1987), Maidstone (1970), Ragtime (1981), Tough Guys Don't Dance (1986), Town Bloody Hall: A Dialogue on Women's Liberation (1979), and Wild 90 (1967). Mailer's fiction and nonfiction works include Cannibals and Christians (1966); The Executioner's Song (1979); "The Foundation" (1942), working title for the novella "A Calculus at Heaven" (Cross-Section, 1944); The Gospel According to the Son (1997); Harlot's Ghost (1991); The Prisoner of Sex (1971); The White Negro (1959); and Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967). Two plays, The Deer Park and Strawhead, are also present. Other writings include two published contributions, "The Last Draft of The Deer Park" and "Rounding Camelot, 1958-1967." Published excerpts and other short works are also found in numerous serials included with the collection.

Series II. Career-Related and Personal includes articles by and about Mailer, correspondence, interviews, personal papers, photographs and portraiture, and programs related to public appearances. The correspondence dates from 1946-1996. Included are Mailer's outgoing letters to Peter Arthurs, Tom Fiske, and Howard Sounes. Of particular interest is a 1946 letter to Angus Cameron, an editor at Little, Brown, concerning the editing of profanity in The Naked and the Dead. A number of Mailer print and television interview transcripts are present, including the newspaper Exposé (1956), William F. Buckley, Jr. (1979), David Frost (1992), Charlie Rose (1993 and 1997), and Sean Abbott for At Random (1997). Also present are writings by Mailer scholar and archivist, J. Michael Lennon, especially his edited volume of correspondence, Norman Mailer's Letters on An American Dream, 1963-1969 (2004).

Testifying to Mailer's eclectic career, this series also contains material on Mailer's unsuccessful 1969 campaign with Jimmy Breslin for New York City municipal leadership. The programs and print material related to public appearances range from his 1943 Harvard commencement program to conferences, symposia, literary festivals, debates, readings, benefits, and events at the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center. Mailer's speeches include his acceptance speech for the 1969 National Book Award and the 1995 spring commencement address at Wilkes University.

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Restrictions

Access:

Open for research

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Separated Material

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Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Purchase, 2005 (Reg. no. 15385)

Processed by:

Hope Donovan Rider and Liz Murray, 2005

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Thomas Fiske Collection of Norman Mailer --Folder List

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