In January 1971, J. Michael Lennon wrote a letter of encouragement to Norman Mailer after watching the author get into a raucous televised debate with Gore Vidal. Mailer responded, sparking a lifelong correspondence between the pair. Lennon went on to become Mailer’s personal archivist and authorized biographer, as well as… read more
Norman Mailer
In the galleries: Norman Mailer’s handwritten draft of “The Fight”
Norman Mailer once wrote, “[Boxing] arouses two of the deepest anxieties we contain. There is not only the fear of getting hurt, which is profound in more men than will admit to it, but there is the opposite panic, equally unadmitted, of hurting others.” Mailer used boxing to explore many… read more
Ransom Center acquires papers of writer Barbara Probst Solomon
The Ransom Center has acquired the archive of Barbara Probst Solomon, a prolific writer and chronicler of twentieth- and twenty-first-century culture. The collection includes manuscripts, correspondence, published books, first drafts, interviews, documentaries, and photographs. Solomon’s career as a writer began shortly after her graduation from Dalton High School in New… read more