From an initial pool of approximately eight hundred items, Mailer selected about 190, drawing on nearly a hundred different sources. He then added approximately fifty more items, which either were written expressly for this book or were taken from the transcripts of unpublished interviews or forums on writing. In all but a few instances, he has incorporated the questions of his interviewers in his replies. Sometimes he has expanded his comments; just as often he has cut them, as comparison with the originals will demonstrate. But in all cases he has respected the spirit of the exchanges: His interlocutors of the past will easily recognize Mailer’s answers.
To satisfy those who wish to know the provenance of an item, the following source notes give both the original place of publication and, whenever possible, the most readily available reprint. To aid readers who would like to obtain the full original source, inclusive page numbers are given in each instance. Those seeking more context or nuance on these matters are advised to consult a recently published reference work, Norman Mailer: Works and Days, by J. Michael and Donna Pedro Lennon, published by Sligo Press, 67 South Pioneer Avenue, Shavertown, Pennsylvania, 18708. Website: normanmailerworksanddays.com.
1. I am tempted: First publication.
2. In 1963: First publication.
3. Steven Marcus: Do you need: “Norman Mailer: The Art of Fiction XXXII,” interview with Steven Marcus, Paris Review no. 31 (winter–spring 1964): 28–58; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer, ed. J. Michael Lennon (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988).
4. I don’t know: Preface, Fiction Writer’s Handbook, by Hallie and Whit Burnett (New York: Harper and Row, 1975) xvii–xxi.
5. That is the best: Personal interview, Larry Shainberg, 10 and 17 March 2002, Provincetown, Massachusetts.
6. In any event: Suffolk University Master Class, Boston, 3 March 2002, organized by James Fleming. Participants: Josette Akresh, Blair Bigelow, Jane Brox, Peter Caputo, Thomas Connolly, Carol Dine, James Fleming, Nick Kain, George Kalogeris, Kristy Langone, Barry Leeds, J. Michael Lennon, Michael Madden, Bette Mandl, Fred Marchant, Anthony Merzlak, Quentin Miller, John Mulrooney, Christopher Ricks, Larry Shainberg, Christopher Sherman, Alexandra Todd.
7. How I aspired: “Norman’s Conquests,” interview with Julia Braun Kessler, Daily News Magazine [Van Nuys, Calif.] 29 May 1983: 25–27.
8. Samuel Goldwyn: Introduction, A Transit to Narcissus (New York: Howard Fertig, 1978) vii–x.
9. Soon after finishing: “A Conversation with Norman Mailer,” interview with Michael Lee, Cape Cod Voice 2–15 August 2001: 12–13, 53–54.
10. Steven Marcus: Can you say: Marcus interview.
11. I think I suffered: “In and Out of Books,” interview with Lewis Nichols, The New York Times Book Review 14 March 1965: 8.
12. Fifty years after: Introduction, The Naked and the Dead, fiftieth anniversary edition (New York: Henry Holt, 1998) xi–xiii.
13. Steven Marcus: What methods: Marcus interview.
14. Barbary Shore: London Master Class, Savoy Hotel, 5 February 2002, organized by Peter Florence. Participants: Martin Aaron, Peter Florence, Mark Mills, Merope Mills, Clare Sears.
15. Steven Marcus: What about The Deer Park: Marcus interview.
16. In his review: “The Mind of an Outlaw,” Esquire November 1959: 87–94; rpt: as “Fourth Advertisement for Myself: The Last Draft of The Deer Park,” Advertisements for Myself (New York: Putnam, 1959).
17. Now that this: First publication.
18. Writing a best-seller: “A Man Half Full,” rev. of A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe, The New York Review of Books 17 December 1998: 18, 20–23; rpt: The Time of Our Time (1998; New York: Modern Library, 1999).
19. The ideal: London Master Class.
20. Today, large literary canvases: “Una Conversación con Norman Mailer,” interview with Barbara Probst Solomon, El País [Madrid] 4 October 1981: 10–15; rpt: in Solomon’s collection, Horse-Trading and Ecstasy (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1989).
21. It’s counterproductive: “The Critic’s Choice: Norman Mailer Talks About Journalism and Millennialism,” interview with Jorie Green and Tammy Polonsky, Daily Pennsylvanian 4 April 1995: 3.
22. A best-seller strategy: “A Man Half Full.”
23. Editing tends to make: “Mailer: It’s Easier to Talk of Sex Than Death,” interview with Eugene Kennedy, Chicago Tribune Bookworld 10 April 1983: 1, 7.
24. My literary generation: “A Literary Lion Roars,” interview with Carolyn T. Hughes, Poets and Writers 29 (March–April 2001): 40–45.
25. Right now the smart money: Untitled interview with William Baises, Robert Harvey, Robert Merrill, Henry Nuwer, and William Wilborn, Brushfire [University of Nevada at Reno] 23 (November–December 1973): 7–20.
26. Bookstore managers: “Mailer Back in Arena, Pushing ‘Oswald,’ ” interview with Carol McCabe, Providence Journal 28 May 1995: El, E9.
27. I treat bad reviews: “Unbloodied by the Critical Pounding, Norman Mailer Defends the Egyptian Novel that Took a Decade to Write,” interview with George Plimpton, People 30 May 1983: 53–54, 59–60, rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
28. Michael Schumacher: Should a writer: “Modern Evenings: An Interview with Norman Mailer,” Writer’s Digest October 1983: 30–34.
29. It usually doesn’t matter: Lee interview.
30. Large literary success: London Master Class.
31. Ah, publicity: First publication.
32. I think for any novelist: “Mailer Talking,” interview with Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Book Review 6 June 1982: 3, 38–41; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
33. For literary people: Kakutani interview.
34. Every time a story: Kakutani interview.
35. If you are ever: Suffolk Master Class.
36. On this practical note: Interview with Edward de Grazia, Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius, by Edward de Grazia (New York: Random House, 1992) 520–21.
37. I remember, years ago: “The Big Bite,” Esquire June 1963: 23–24, 28, 32; “Some Children of the Goddess: Further Evaluations of the Talent in the Room,” Esquire July 1963: 63–69, 105. These two essays are combined as “Some Children of the Goddess” in Cannibals and Christians (New York: Dial, 1966).
38. One more note: First publication.
39. One of the cruelest remarks: First publication.
40. Being a novelist: “Prisoner of Success,” interview with Paul Attanasio, Boston Phoenix 24 February 1981: 1–2, 11; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications (Boston: Little Brown, 1982).
41. It’s not advisable: Attanasio interview.
42. I remember saying: “Mailer Opus,” interview with Sean Abbott, At Random Magazine May 1998 < http://www.randomhouse.com/atrandom/normanmailer/index/html>.
43. Sometimes you write: Suffolk Master Class.
1. Before we can talk: First publication.
2. The piece that follows: First publication.
3. I am going to speak: “The Hazards and Sources of Writing,” Michigan Quarterly Review 24 (summer 1985): 391–402; rpt: Speaking of Writing: Selected Hopwood Lectures, ed. Nicholas Delbanco (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990).
4. To the risks: London Master Class.
5. Style, of course: Preface, Advertisements for Myself (1959; New York: Berkley, 1976) v–vii; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
6. In The Deer Park: “The Pursuit of Experience,” interview with W. J. Weatherby, Manchester Guardian Weekly 28 September 1961: 14.
7. Finding one’s own manner: London Master Class.
8. Style is character: Marcus interview.
9. Style is also a reflection: London Master Class.
10. It is comforting: Plimpton, People.
11. You know, a good skier: “Norman Crosses Swords with Women’s Lib,” interview with Digby Diehl, Los Angeles Times Calendar 14 February 1971: 1, 56.
12. There are two kinds: “Toward a Concept of Norman Mailer,” interview with Samuel M. Hughes, Pennsylvania Gazette [Alumni Magazine of University of Pennsylvania] May 1995: 20–27.
13. Metaphors? You ask: “Literary Ambitions,” interview with J. Michael Lennon, Pieces and Pontifications 163–71.
14. On the other hand: Shainberg interview.
15. A short fictional piece: “A Man Half Full.”
16. Larry Shainberg: You used: Shainberg interview.
17. While Dwight Macdonald: Preface, Discriminations: Essays and Afterthoughts, by Dwight Macdonald (New York: Grossman, 1985) vii–ix.
18. As a corollary: “Some Children of the Goddess.”
19. Third person and first person: “Norman Mailer Interview,” with Romona Koval, Books and Writing 1 September 2000 <http://www.abc.net.au/arts_0192000html>.
20. In the first person: London Master Class.
21. First person point of view: “A Conversation with Norman Mailer,” with J. Michael Lennon, New England Review 20 (summer 1999): 138–48.
22. It was not until: Abbott interview.
23. Nonetheless, I have considerable: London Master Class.
24. The CIA: “Mailer’s American Dream,” interview with Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle 17 October 1991: 1, 4.
25. The decisions you make: Lennon, New England Review.
26. Working on The Executioner’s Song: “Mailer’s America,” interview with J. Michael Lennon, Chicago Tribune 29 September 1991: Sec. 13, 18–19, 27.
27. I no longer work: “Creators on Creating: Norman Mailer,” interview with Hilary Mills, Saturday Review January 1981: 46–49, 52–53; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
28. For that matter: Plimpton, People.
29. Many young novelists: Suffolk Master Class.
30. Some of my characters: “Norman Mailer: Fact and Fiction,” interview with Harvey Aronson, PD: Sunday Magazine of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 16 December 1984: 4–6, 22–23.
31. Graham Greene: Aronson interview.
32. Up to now: Marcus interview.
33. The question remains: Marcus interview.
34. I’ve spoken of characters: Marcus interview.
35. Hearn’s death: “Norman Mailer at Columbia,” interview with Joseph McElroy and Columbia students, Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Prose no. 6 (spring–summer): 103–15; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
36. When it comes: Lennon, “Literary Ambitions.”
37. I’d say try not: “Norman Mailer: ‘The Hubris of the American Vision,’ ” interview with Eric James Schroeder, Vietnam, We’ve All Been There: Interviews with American Writers, ed. Eric James Schroeder (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992) 91–105.
38. Hemingway suffered: Shainberg interview.
39. I’ve been asked: Marcus interview.
40. If a novelist: Attanasio interview.
41. The characters you create: “Norman Mailer: I’m Like a Minor Champ,” interview with Stan Isaacs, LI: Newsday’s Magazine 21 September 1975: 10–13, 22–26.
42. I am not sure: Marcus interview.
43. In large part: “An Author’s Identity,” interview with J. Michael Lennon, Pieces and Pontifications 151–57.
44. One example: London Master Class.
45. I think Capote’s book: “An Interview with Norman Mailer,” with John W. Aldridge, Partisan Review 47 (July 1980): 174–82; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
46. If you find: McElroy interview.
47. Let me take: McElroy interview.
48. The influence of Henry Adams: Solomon interview. 99 Literary influence: “Mailer and Vidal: The Big Schmooze,” interview with Carole Mallory, Esquire May 1991: 105–12.
49. It’s disturbing to read: Mallory interview.
50. I’m now eighty: Abbott interview.
51. I remember in the summer: McElroy interview.
52. A large part of writing: London Master Class.
53. Writing is wonderful: “The Surreal Professor,” interview with Marshall Ledger, Pennsylvania Gazette May 1983: 14–22.
54. There’s nothing glorious: Kakutani interview.
55. I used to have: “Norman Mailer,” interview with Brian Lamb, Booknotes: America’s Finest Authors on Reading, Writing, and the Power of Ideas, ed. Brian Lamb (New York: Random House, 1997) 162–65.
56. When I read something: London Master Class.
57. I never know what: “Style Is Character: An Interview with Norman Mailer,” with Cathleen Medwick, Vogue May 1983: 279, 343.
58. I think it’s important: Marcus interview.
59. Indeed, many good writers: Schumacher interview.
60. Of course, it’s virtually: Marcus interview.
61. If you can: McElroy interview.
62. Once you are committed: “Norman Mailer: Stupidity Brings Out the Violence in Me,” interview with Lawrence Grobel, Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Lives, ed. Lawrence Grobel (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001) 289–316.
63. I’ve often felt: “Thoughts of a Tough Guy,” interview with Richard Howard, Mail on Sunday Magazine [London] 14 October 1984: 78.
64. A few words: McElroy interview.
65. Research is another matter: McElroy interview.
66. By now, I’m a bit cynical: Marcus interview.
1. If I place: First publication.
2. Having, at the age of twenty-five: London Master Class.
3. Some artists: Lennon, “An Author’s Identity.”
4. My case was different: Mills, “Creators on Creating: Norman Mailer.”
5. People who suffer: “Norman and Norris Mailer Seem Letter-Perfect for Roles of Literary Legends Who Lived Large,” interview with Debbie Forman, Cape Cod Times 15 September 2001: B1–B2.
6. I was successful and alienated: Mills, “Creators on Creating: Norman Mailer.”
7. Let me see: “Still Stormin’,” interview with Alastair McKay, The Scotsman: S2 Weekend 22 July 2000: 2–5.
8. Moreover, there’s an irony: “Mailer, Between Lives,” interview with Curt Suplee, Washington Post Style 20 April 1983: B1, B11.
9. On the other hand: First publication.
10. James Jones: Lennon, New England Review.
11. But I kept wanting: Interview with Bill Vitka, “The Source,” CBS Radio, October 1984.
12. I’ve always been fascinated: “The Old Man and the Novel,” interview with Scott Spencer, The New York Times Magazine 22 September 1991: 28–31, 40, 42, 47.
13. Since good novelists: “Norman Mailer Face-to-Face,” interview with Dan Treisman and Robin Davis, Isis: Oxford University Magazine November–December 1984: 8–9.
14. If you start: “Norman Mailer Face-to-Face,” interview with Anthony R. Cannela, Hartford Courant 6 December 1998: B1, B3.
15. I’ve virtually said: London Master Class.
16. The energy I put: Mills interview.
17. City life produces: “Mailer: Tough Guy at Ease in P’town,” interview with Peter E. Howard, Cape Cod Times 12 August 1984: 1, 12–13.
18. In the world: “Existential Aesthetics: An Interview with Norman Mailer,” with Laura Adams, Partisan Review 42 (summer 1975) 197–214; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer and, in part, The Time of Our Time.
19. You also have to learn: Lee interview.
20. I think Hemingway: “Mailer on Mailer: An Interview,” with Matthew Grace and Steve Roday, New Orleans Review 3.3 (1973): 229–34.
21. Hemingway’s death: Solomon interview.
22. All the same: “Some Children of the Goddess.”
23. Few good writers: “Norman Mailer,” interview with Charles Ruas, Conversations with American Writers (New York: Random House, 1985) 18–36.
24. One of the hardest: “Mailer’s Alpha and Omega,” interview with Toby Thompson, Vanity Fair October 1991: 150–62.
25. The literary world: Mills interview.
26. A writer, no matter: “Some Children of the Goddess.”
27. When it comes: Suffolk Master Class.
28. It may be that part: “Twelfth Round: An Interview with Norman Mailer,” with Robert Begiebing, Harvard Magazine 85 (March–April 1983): 40–50; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
29. Only another writer: “A Conversation with Norman Mailer,” with Barry H. Leeds, Connecticut Review 10 (spring 1988): 1–15; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
30. Writing can also be: Kakutani interview.
31. There is always fear: Begiebing interview.
32. I’m always a little: Lennon, “An Author’s Identity.”
33. Usually, on an average: Grace and Roday interview.
34. When I’m writing: Diehl interview.
35. Today, most of my ideas: Kakutani interview.
36. I can sit: Shainberg interview.
37. On the other hand: Suffolk Master Class.
38. If you believe: Suffolk Master Class.
39. Another word on gender: Suffolk Master Class.
40. The narcissist suffers: “Narcissism,” Pieces and Pontifications 106–14; rpt: from Genius and Lust: A Journey Through the Major Writings of Henry Miller (New York: Grove, 1976).
41. A corollary of narcissism: First publication.
42. Paul Krassner: Do you think: “An Impolite Interview with Norman Mailer,” with Paul Krassner, The Realist no. 40 (December 1962): 1, 13–23, 10; rpt: Advertisements for Myself.
43. In the course: Shainberg interview.
44. Part of the art: Suffolk Master Class.
45. I’ve found that I can’t: Mills interview.
46. Sometimes, the only way: Solomon interview.
47. I’ve always had the feeling: Begiebing interview.
48. Over the years: Suffolk Master Class.
49. The rule in capsule: Ledger interview.
1. Since the primitive had senses: “Norman Mailer on Science and Art,” interview with David Young, Antaeus nos. 13/14 (spring–summer 1974): 334–45; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
2. Primitive man had to see: Abbott interview.
3. The artist seeks: Young interview.
4. While the physicist: Young interview.
5. An equation sign: Young interview.
6. I’ve long had the notion: “Norman Mailer Talks to Melvyn Bragg About the Bizarre Business of Writing a Hypothetical Life of Marilyn Monroe,” interview with Melvyn Bragg, Listener 20 December 1973: 847–50; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
7. J. Michael Lennon: Many of your characters: Lennon, “Literary Ambitions.”
8. Back to Kierkegaard: Adams interview.
9. The moment you moralize: Medwick, “Style Is Character.”
10. I’ve used this example: Lennon, “An Author’s Identity.”
11. I may not be a good: Lennon, “An Author’s Identity.”
12. Readers often have: Suffolk Master Class.
13. I’ve always been drawn: Suffolk Master Class.
14. Borges has a magical: Lennon, “An Author’s Identity.”
15. Paranoia? It is either: “Frank Crowther: Norman Mailer, Part II,” interview with Frank Crowther, Changes no. 86 (January 1974): 25–26.
16. There is a famous: “Writers and Boxers,” interview with J. Michael Lennon, Pieces and Pontifications 158–62.
17. The twentieth-century artist: Ruas interview.
18. In line with Picasso: Ruas interview.
19. We tell ourselves: “Mailer Admits Someone’s Better,” interview with Brian Peterson, Grand Forks [North Dakota] Herald 22 March 1985: A1, A8.
20. The great economists: First publication.
21. Obviously, Freud: Lennon, “Literary Ambitions.”
22. Back in 1959: Begiebing interview.
23. You cannot have: Vitka interview.
24. I don’t like to say: Schroeder interview.
25. I feel that the final purpose: “Hip Hell and the Navigator: An Interview with Norman Mailer,” with Richard G. Stern and Robert F. Lucid, Western Review 23 (winter 1959): 101–9; rpt: Advertisements for Myself and The Time of Our Time.
26. The logic of reincarnation: “Mailer on Marriage and Women,” interview with Buzz Farbar, Viva October 1973: 74–76, 144–52; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications and, in part, The Time of Our Time.
27. Speaking at the MacDowell: Preface, Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960–1972 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1976) vii–xii.
28. I’m right and I’m wrong: Begiebing interview.
29. Yes, it is no ordinary: Adams interview.
30. When we read Proust: “A Murderer’s Tale: Norman Mailer Talking to Melvyn Bragg,” with Melvyn Bragg, Listener 15 November 1979: 660–62; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
31. I go back again: Shainberg interview.
32. Writers aren’t taken seriously: “I Ask the Questions (Such As: What’s an Old Warhorse like You Doing Drinking Iced Tea?)” interview with Dermot Purgavie, Mail on Sunday [London] 24 September 1995: 3.
33. If I could give: Crowther interview.
34. The reader will be aware: Marcus interview.
35. I’ve never felt close: Shainberg interview.
36. In parallel, the essence: Shainberg interview.
37. I can see some reasonably: De Grazia interview.
38. You can tell a lot: Crowther interview.
39. One can say that if Picasso: “Mailer on Mailer,” interview with Michael Mailer, Time Out [New York] 11–18 October 1995: 20–21, 23.
40. A great many artists: Michael Mailer interview.
41. I’ve always felt: Mallory interview.
42. Which opens a useful: First publication.
43. But now that: First publication.
44. Abraham Lincoln: First publication.
45. “Merit envies success: First publication.
46. One good reason: First publication.
47. Example: “The whole problem: First publication.
48. “Rudeness is the weak man’s: First publication.
1. Genre, as used here: First publication.
2. Certain human relations: Farbar interview.
3. Centuries from now: Preface, Some Honorable Men.
4. I began my forays: Preface, Some Honorable Men.
5. The excerpt that follows: First publication.
6. Remember the old joke: “Ten Thousand Words a Minute,” Esquire February 1963: 109–20; rpt: The Presidential Papers (New York: Putnam, 1963) 213–67, and, in part, The Time of Our Time.
7. The problem of going out: McElroy interview.
8. During sports events: Solomon interview.
9. Almost always a reporter: Baises, Harvey, Merrill, Nuwer, and Wilborn interview.
10. One of the elements: Solomon interview.
11. On the other hand: Attanasio interview.
12. In a novel: Isaacs interview.
13. It is painful: “A Harlot High and Low: Reconnoitering Through the Secret Government,” New York 16 August 1976: 22–32, 35–38, 43–46; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications and The Time of Our Time.
14. A novelist ought: Suffolk Master Class.
15. Larry Schiller: Shainberg interview.
16. Already there have been: “Of a Small and Modest Malignancy, Wicked and Bristling with Dots,” Esquire November 1977: 125–48; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
17. The making of my first: “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, It’s Norman Mailer,” interview with Vincent Canby, The New York Times 27 October 1968: Sec. 2, 15; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
18. Movies are more likely: “Dance of a Tough Guy,” interview with Michael Ventura, L.A. Weekly 18–24 September 1987: 14–19; rpt: Conversations with Norman Mailer.
19. Time is your money: Ventura interview.
20. All this is easy: First publication.
21. Perhaps a thousand: “A Course in Film-Making,” New American Review no. 12 (August 1971): 200–241; rpt: Existential Errands (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972).
22. The first time: “Norman Mailer on Love, Sex, God, and the Devil,” interview with Cathleen Medwick, Vogue December 1980: 268–69, 322; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
23. To pay one’s $5: “A Transit to Narcissus,” rev. of Last Tango in Paris, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, The New York Review of Books 17 May 1973: 3–10; rpt: Existential Errands.
24. I may as well confess: First publication.
25. Many a fiction writer: First publication.
26. Sometimes, it is as if: Foreword, Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult, by Peter Levenda (1995; New York: Continuum, 2002) 1–4.
27. Why Are We in Vietnam? is the only: Preface, Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967; New York: Berkley, 1977) vii–x; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
28. The unconscious can lead: Kennedy interview.
29. The story is: “The Hazards and Sources of Writing.”
30. Famous plant-man: The Faith of Graffiti, documented by Mervyn Kurlansky and Jon Naar, Prepared by Lawrence Schiller, Text by Norman Mailer (New York: Praeger, 1974); rpt: The Time of Our Time.
31. The act of writing: “The Hazards and Sources of Writing.”
32. The novel has: “Playboy Interview: Norman Mailer,” with Paul Carroll, Playboy January 1968: 69–84; rpt: Pieces and Pontifications.
33. For six and a half: The Faith of Graffiti.
34. Years ago: The Faith of Graffiti.
1. Somewhere around the turn: Shainberg interview. The Chekhov-Tolstoy anecdote is derived from John Ford Noonan’s play Talking Things Over with Chekhov (New York: Samuel French, 1991).
2. Is there a sweeter: “Huckleberry Finn, Alive at 100,” The New York Times Book Review 9 December 1984: 1, 36–37; rpt: The Time of Our Time.
3. J. Michael Lennon: I don’t think: Lennon, “Literary Ambitions.”
4. Hemingway’s style: Kakutani interview.
5. I guess I would say: Attanasio interview.
6. What characterizes every book: Preface, Papa: A Personal Memoir, by Gregory Hemingway, M.D. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976) xi–xiii.
7. The cruelest criticism: “Miller and Hemingway,” Pieces and Pontifications 86–93; rpt: from Genius and Lust.
8. His work embraced: “Miller and Hemingway.”
9. Not until this last: [D. H. Lawrence], The Prisoner of Sex (Boston: Little, Brown, 1971) 133–60; rpt: The Time of Our Time.
10. Name any great novel: Grobel interview.
11. James Jones and I: “Author to Author: Norman Mailer Talks to Jay McInerney,” interview with Jay McInerney, Providence Phoenix 10 November 1995: Sec. 1, 10–11, 15.
12. Capote wrote: Interview with George Plimpton, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career, by George Plimpton (New York: Random House, 1997) 238–40.
13. All the same: Mallory interview.
14. Kurt Vonnegut: “The Hazards and Sources of Writing.”
15. Reading Toni Morrison: London Master Class.
16. Picasso had: McInerney interview.
17. It’s the guys: “Talking with David Frost,” PBS, 24 January 1992.
18. Back in school: “Some Children of the Goddess.”
19. I haven’t looked: London Master Class.
20. Since writing the above: First publication.
21. Good writing is not: “Modes and Mutations: Quick Comments on the Modern American Novel,” Commentary March 1966: 37–40; rpt: as “The Argument Reinvigorated” in Cannibals and Christians.
22. If this prodigiously: First publication.