On the State of Mailer Studies

In this conversation, first published in 2019, Phillip Sipiora talks with J. Michael Lennon, Mailer’s authorized biographer and longtime friend, about the state of Mailer studies. Lennon recalls Mailer’s work ethic and how he cultivated being both an insider and an outsider. He also traces his own path from correspondent to archivist and describes the Mailer collections at the Harry Ransom Center and Wilkes University. The two discuss digitization and Project Mailer, the Library of America editions as a sign of Mailer’s place in the canon, and recent scholarship and the work still to be done.