Mailer : A Biography

MailerAuthor(s): Mary V. DearbornUndeniably one of the most controversial figures of the past half-century, Mailer has also been one of the most influential. He has both made the news and commented on it with an originality that has permanently altered America's literary landscape. Mary Dearborn had unprecedented access to Mailer's friends, relations, and antagonists, who provided key insights to fill in the familiar outlines of the Mailer myth, the brilliant successes and notorious failures. As splendidly told by Dearborn, Mailer's story is, for good or ill, the story of our times.Review(s):"Dearborn gets Mailer's contradictions and irrationalities onto the page as story, in plain, sometimes hard-boiled English. . . . [S]he likes to knock the stuffing out of him when she finds him too upholstered . . ." The New York Times'Setting a standard for lucidity and general competence that even Mailer's authorized biographer will be hard pressed to reach, Dearborn's unauthorized life tells how