Taken by Bernard Gotfryd
One of the most outspoken and controversial writers of the 20th century, Norman Mailer‘s unrelenting quest for truth and meaning found him both fame and infamy. His novels, such as “The Naked and the Dead”, “The Executioner’s Song”, are potent with both wise adages and contemporaneous political commentary on an American sociopolitical landscape constantly in flux. Learn more of Mailer’s life in the timeline below.
Norman Kingsley Mailer is born January 31st in Long Branch, NJ.
Mailer's family moves to Brooklyn where Mailer attends public school.
Enters Harvard at age 16 to study aeronautical engineering.
First short story published.
Inducted into the army. Serves in the Philippines, as a rifleman in a reconnaissance outfit.
"The Naked and The Dead" published.
"Barbary Shore" published.
Becomes an editor of Dissent magazine.
Helps found The Village Voice.
"The Deer Park" published.
"The White Negro" published.
"Advertisements for Myself" published.
Stabs wife Adele with pen knife. Is briefly committed to Bellevue mental hospital.
"An American Dream" is published.
"Cannibals and Christians" is published.
"Why Are We in Vietnam?" published. Arrested in anti-Vietnam march on the Pentagon.
"The Armies of the Night" (wins Pulitzer, National Book Award) and "Miami and the Siege of Chicago" (wins National Book Award) published.
Runs an unsuccessful bid for mayor of New York City.
"Of a Fire on the Moon" and "The Prisoner of Sex" published.
"Marilyn" published.
"The Fight" published.
"The Executioner's Song" published and wins a Pulitzer Prize.
"Ancient Evenings" published.
"Tough Guys Don't Dance" published.
"Harlot's Ghost" published.
"The Time of Our Time" published.
