J. Michael Lennon:

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

Scope and Contents

Dr. J. Michael Lennon, Emeritus Vice President and Emeritus Professor of English at Wilkes University, is Norman Mailer's official biographer and literary co-executor. He is a founding member and first president of the Norman Mailer Society and maintained a close personal relationship with Mailer for more than thirty years. Lennon has published widely on Mailer, including (with Donna Pedro Lennon), Norman Mailer: Works and Days ( 2000), and edited several of Mailer's works, including Pieces and Pontifications ( 1982), Conversations with Norman Mailer ( 1988), The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing ( 2005), and On God: An Uncommon Conversation ( 2007).

Lennon’s collection of Mailer correspondence consists of eight folders of outgoing and incoming letters with Mailer. Carbons and photocopies of Lennon’s letters to Mailer date from 1971 to 1993 and include Lennon’s first letter to Mailer regarding Mailer’s appearance with Gore Vidal and Janet Flanner on "The Dick Cavett Show,"December 2, 1971. Original typed and handwritten letters from Mailer to Lennon date from 1972 to 1993 and contain Mailer’s comments on his literary and personal activities.

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Access:

Open for research

Return to the Table of Contents

Related Material

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Purchase and gift, 2007 (R16533, G12549)

Processed by:

Katy Hill, Stephen Mielke, 2007

Return to the Table of Contents

J. Michael Lennon Correspondence with Norman Mailer --Folder List

Return to the Table of Contents