Norman Mailer Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Norman Mailer was a well known novelist from America, who was famous for writing in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In addition to being a noteworthy novelist, he was also a reputed playwright, filmmaker, essayist, political activist, and journalist. The first book written by him was published in 1948. Its title was The Naked and the Dead. Among the best known works of author Mailer are included his novel, The Executioner’s Song. It came out in 1979. This novel helped author Mailer win a couple of Pulitzer Prizes. He has also won a National Book Award for one of his other books. Author Mailer is known to have innovated a new genre called creative nonfiction, along with other authors like Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Hunter Thompson. This new genre is sometimes referred to as New Journalism and uses the devices and styles of literary fiction in the fact based journalism. Author Mailer was equally well known for writing essays. His most famous essay is called The White Negro. As a cultural critic and commentator, Mailer expressed his views on a frequent basis through his essays, journalism, novels, and media appearances. In 1955, he laid the foundation of a political and arts oriented weekly newspaper called The Village Voice, along with a few of his friends. This paper was made available in the Greenwich Village. Author Mailer was born as Norman Kingsley Mailer on January 31, 1923, in Long Beach, New Jersey, United States. He belonged to a Jewish family. Mailer’s father worked as an accountant, while her mother was the owner of a nursing and housekeeping agency. Mailer had a younger sister named Barbara. Most of the upbringing of author Mailer was done in Brooklyn. He completed his school education from the Boys High School and then joined the Harvard University in the year 1939 at the age of 16 years. During his undergraduate program, he became a Signet Society member.

Author Mailer pursued aeronautical engineering at Harvard and later developed an interest in writing. His first story was published when he was 18 years old. It won the college contest organized by Story Magazine in 1941. After the completion of his graduation in 1943, Mailer joined the US Army. With the hope getting deferred from service, he entered into the argument that he was developing an important literary work pertaining to the world war. However, the deferral was rejected and he was forced into service. He underwent training in Fort Bragg and then got posted in Philippines. During the time of his service in Philippines, Mailer was mainly involved in cooking. The experience that he gained from his short service in the army gave him the inspiration to write his first book. Author Mailer has penned a total of 12 books over the course of his 59 year career. Following the end of his army service, Mailer enrolled himself at the Paris Unviersity and started studying again. At around the same time, he was also working on developing his debut book. After its publication, the book went on to be listed in the New York Times bestseller list and remained there for a total of 62 weeks. The book was hailed as one of the best wartime novels in the American literature. Following the immense success of this book, author Mailer went on to write a few more bestselling books in his career. Besides, he also carried out important works in his other careers as well. An important aspect Mailer’s career is his biographical work that included subjects like Muhammad Ali, Lee Harvey Oswald, Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Gary Gilmore, etc. Author Mailer had married for a total of 6 times in his lifetime and had fathered 9 children altogether. His first marriage took place in 1944, while the last one happened in 1980. All his previous marriages ended in divorces, but the 6th one remained intact until his death in 2007. Later in his writing career, Mailer worked with his son named John Buffalo Mailer to co-write a book called The Big Empty. Author Mailer’s death occurred on November 10, 2007 in Manhattan, New York, due to renal failure. He is buried in the Provincetown Cemetery, Massachusetts.

An early book written by Norman Mailer is entitled ‘The Fight’. It was released in 1997 by the Vintage publication, after its original release in 1971. In this book, author Mailer has given the description of a boxing match fought by Muhammad Ali. At the start of the book, it is shown that 2 Afro-American boxers were paid 5 million dollars each in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, for fighting against each other in the ring. One among them was Muhammad Ali, who had started to age and already famous by that time. The other boxers was George Foreman, who was a very taciturn fighter. The fight was witnessed by author Mailer, who was present as a commentator. Mailer showed a great audacity, acumen, and energy while commenting on the fighters’ moves and interpreting the characters of each of them during the fight. He even weighed the competing claims of both the fighters on the American and African souls. The book turned out to be an excellent masterpiece of sport literature due to the grasp of author Mailer of the strategies and feints of the titanic battle. Mailer’s sensitivity about deeper symbolism also helped in the book’s success in the long run.

Another successful book written by author Mailer is called ‘An American Dream’. The Vintage publishers released this book in 1999. Author Mailer has described the primary characters of this book as Stephen Rojack and Deborah Caughlin Kelly. At the beginning of the book’s story, Stephen Rojack is introduced into the plot as a famous war hero and an ex-Congressman. Now, he runs a TV show of his own and is considered a respected public intellectual. Stephen’s wife is the beautiful, amoral, and rich Caughlin Kelly. One night, Stephen experiences that he is in conservation with the moon while standing on the terrace of a high-rise building in New York. It appears that the moon is forcing him to murder himself. And in an attempt to defend himself in the act, Stephen Rojack ends up killing his beautiful wife. This makes Stephen run for his life through the same city, which regarded him as a privileged citizen once. Through this novel, author Mailer has tried to peel away the social reforms’ layers in order to reveal a world full of relentless cruelty and pure appetite. Overall, the book appears to be quite thrilling, sensual, and thrilling. It attracted a number of readers worldwide and also faced some controversy because of the subject taken up by author Mailer.