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.