Collection of Norman Mailer’s writing finds new publisher
An anthology of the late Norman Mailer’s writing that Random House allegedly scheduled for his centennial in 2023 but backed off from, will be released by Skyhorse Publishing. The publisher has taken on such discarded works as Woody Allen’s memoir “Apropos of Nothing” and a Philip Roth biography written by Blake Bailey.
Andrew Wylie, whose literary agency represents the Mailer estate, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Skyhorse Publishing will release the book and that Random House has waived any reprint fees. He said that such details as the book’s contents, title and date of publication were still to be determined.
“Random House is proud to publish Norman Mailer, and intends to promote his work significantly for the centennial, in tandem with the publication by Skyhorse of the anthology,” Wylie wrote in an email. “The Mailer family and Random House are united in support of Norman’s work.”
A Skyhorse spokesperson was not immediately able to confirm there was a deal for the Mailer book. Skyhorse is an independent publisher that has made a name for itself in recent years by signing up such authors as Allen, Bailey, Garrison Keillor and others the mainstream industry has distanced itself from, for reasons ranging from allegations of sexual harassment to sexual assault. Skyhouse also is the publisher of the inflammatory bestseller “The Real Anthony Fauci,” by anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Wylie disputed a report by the online publication The Ankler, which alleged Random House dropped the project because of misgivings about some of Mailer’s work, notably “The White Negro.” In Mailer’s 1957 essay, he wrote of Blacks as being models of non-conformity for hipster whites, living in “the enormous present,” letting go “the pleasures of the mind for the more obligatory pleasures of the body.”