Lipton’s Journal/Correspondence of Robert Lindner and Norman Mailer

outside of Mailer’s friendship with Lindner. We are lucky to have the bulk of their correspondence and can thus get a glimpse of the texture of their relationship. Robert Lindner came into Mailer’s life at a particularly difficult time—a period in which he was still reeling from a formidable blow to his ego after the failure of Barbary Shore, and was writing his new novel The Deer Park under a cloud of uncertainty. For many this would have been a good time to consider turning to a psychotherapist for help. So, perhaps it is not surprising that after reading Prescription for a Rebellion, Mailer felt compelled to write to the author. It seems that Mailer knew he had found a rare bird—a psychoanalyst who would not squelch his creativity and would help him remain a rebel with a cause. On November 18, 1952 Mailer sent his first letter to Lindner opening the gate for an intense and fertile friendship that lasted until Lindner’s untimely death in February, 1956.
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Date 	Letter To 	First Words
/November 18, 1952/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I wish I had been able to write . . .
/November 24, 1952/ 	To Norman Mailer 	I was very glad to hear from you . . .
/April 15, 1953/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I hope you’ll excuse this long delay . . .
/February 16, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I’ve been pushing hard into the book . . .
/February 23, 1954/ 	To Norman Mailer 	Just receiving your letter was a great relief.
/February 26, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I’m answering this immediately . . .
/June 7, 1954/ 	To Norman Mailer 	It was great talking with you the other night.
/June 12, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	The trip to Mexico keeps getting put off.
/June-July, 1954/ 	To Norman Mailer 	It is to be hoped greatly that this my letter . . .
/July 16, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I really enjoyed your masterpiece . . .
/July 20, 1954/ 	To Norman Mailer 	Don’t tell me we’re not simpatico!
/August 19, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I’ve been sort of saving up and looking forward . . .
/September 15, 1954/	To Norman Mailer 	Now, at last, I take my pen in hand . . .
/November 29, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	Just a shortie to tell you what a good time . . .
/December 7, 1954/ 	To Norman Mailer 	The fact that you left a number of things . . .
/December 20, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	More notes from the journal.
/December 31, 1954/ 	To Robert Lindner 	Happy New Year.
/January 20, 1955/ 	To Robert Lindner 	Some more of the journal.
/January 27, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	O tried to call you last night . . .
/February 3, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	I have been so tremendously excited . . .
/March 14, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	It’s been so long since I heard from you . . .
/March 15, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	Either you wrote those two notes in a paranoid fog . . .
/March 29, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	Your manuscript is being mailed today . . .
/April 22, 1955/ 	To Robert Lindner 	Just a note to tell you how good . . .
/April 25, 1955/ 	To Robert Lindner 	I came over to my studio today . . .
/June 3, 1955/ 	To Robert Lindner 	That was a good talk we had on the phone . . .
/July, 1955/ 	To Norman Mailer 	The days go by and I find myself more hard pressed . . .
/January 13, 1956/ 	To Norman Mailer 	Perhaps you will forgive my silence . . .
/September 8, 2007/ 	Postscript: Mailer on the death of Robert Lindner	Postscript: Mailer on the death of Robert Lindner
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