J. Michael Lennon – Page 9 – Archivist, Biographer, Educator

DID YOU KNOW? The last short story that Mailer wrote was “The Last Night,” published in the December 1963 Esquire. It is a sci-fi tale about the world ending after a devastating nuclear war. The president of the U. S. and the premier of the U. S. S. R. recognize that radioactive fallout has made the Earth almost inhabitable. They agree to a bold course of action: load the most advanced spaceship with 80 humans, all healthy and intelligent, representing the races and culture of the world, add some animals and computers containing some portion of the planet’s cultural heritage, and send it out into the universe. Because the best rockets of the time will be unable to propel the ship beyond the Earth’s gravitational pull, the leaders decide to explode the earth after the spaceship-ark has been launched in the hope that the massive detonation, which will destroy the planet, will propel the ship out into deepest space. The resident tells the premier that he believes that “man may have been mismated with earth,” and

We cannot suffer ourselves to sit here and be extinguished, not when the beauty that first gave speech to our tongues commands us to go out and find another world, another earth, where we may strive, where we may win, where we may find the right to live again.

In a plebiscite, the people of the earth vote favorably to destroy the planet. The story ends with “the spaceship, a silver minnow, streaming into the oceans of mystery, and the darkness beyond.” It was Mailer’s intention to use this ending as the hinge between the end of Ancient Evenings (some may recall that the novel ends with “the scream of the earth exploding”), and the unwritten sequel, “The Boat of Ra,” which would detail the spaceship’s voyage to distant galaxies. There is quite a bit more to the story, including the nature of the final novel of the trilogy, “Of Modern Times,” all detailed for the first time in Norman Mailer: A Double Life.

Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program Marks 10th Anniversary

By webmaster

On June 23, 2015

In News

Since welcoming a first class of about a dozen students in 2005, the Wilkes University graduate creative writing program has seen over 100 books, 50 plays, 40 films and hundreds of poems and short stories published or produced by its faculty, students and alumni.

Funke Interview with Mike

By webmaster

On June 15, 2015

In Letters

An interview with Erika Funke of WVIA-FM in Scranton, PA. It concerns Mike’s edition of Mailer’s letters.

Mailer on Kennedy

By webmaster

On June 8, 2015

In Media

Norman Mailer, the irascible, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and sometimes irreverent and controversial journalist, wrote on a wide range of topics with a one-of-a-kind style from the 1940s through the mid-2000s. In his literary career, he published a dozen novels and 20 works of nonfiction. He also wrote hundreds of essays, stage plays, screenplays, television miniseries, two books of poetry and a collection of short stories. Included in this body of work is a famous 1960 essay published in Esquire magazine on the political emergence of John F. Kennedy (JFK).

Mike and Superman

By webmaster

On May 26, 2015

In Media

Barry and Mike, 2003

By webmaster

On April 17, 2015

In Misc

Put Everything In

By webmaster

On April 16, 2015

In Biography

A review of A Double Life from Barry H. Leeds from The Mailer Review Volume 7, 2013.

Many people believe they know much of Norman Mailer’s life and work. Virtually no one knows it all. This long-awaited volume does much to close that gap. J. Michael Lennon, Mailer’s archivist and confidante of many years, armed with his access to all Mailer’s letters, interviews with virtually all the intimates and principals in his life, and all the weighty Mailer papers which Lennon himself was instrumental in collecting and categorizing, does an exemplary job of presenting Mailer, the man and the writer. This is no puff piece or hagiography: Mailer told Lennon toward the end of his life, to “put everything in,” and he has: triumphs, disasters and all the warts.

Special Event with Danielle Mailer and Mike

By webmaster

On April 9, 2015

In Event

Sunday, April 26, 2015 @ 2:00 pm

Hickory Stick Bookstore
2 Green Hill Road
Washington, Connecticut 06794
860-868-0525
(about 80 miles north of NYC)

Discussion between Danielle Mailer & J. Michael Lennon

Danielle Mailer and Michael Lennon will discuss the life and work of her father, Norman Mailer. Danielle, a distinguished visual artist who has enjoyed great success of late with public commissions for her sculptures, is the second eldest of his nine children. Please join us for a relaxed discussion, in which we will also talk about her artistic career and vision, and how it was influenced by both her parents—her mother Adele is also a visual artist.

J. Michael Lennon’s books Selected Letters of Norman Mailer (2014) and Norman Mailer: A Double Life (2013) will be available for purchase.

DID YOU KNOW: In the summer of 1955, Mailer purchased two standard poodles, Tibo, who looked like a black sheep, and Zsa Zsa. They produced 32 pups over 17 years. Zsa Zsa died first; Tibo is buried in the garden of the house Mailer and his then-wife Beverly Bentley lived at 565 Commercial Street in Provincetown, MA. Mailer said that Tibo made such a variety of intelligent sounds that he appeared about to speak. Partly because of Tibo, Mailer concluded that dogs have souls.

By webmaster

On March 29, 2015

In Did You Know

The NMS Podcast

By webmaster

On March 20, 2015

In Media

Thanks to Justin Bozung, The Norman Mailer Society Podcast is now live on iTunes. Mike is featured in the first episode — posted here a few days ago — and new episodes will be published every two weeks. Please subscribe using iTunes and support the on-going efforts of Project Mailer.

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