Mailer gives sneak peek at new book

Awaiting the first public reading of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer's newest book, Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, 200 people gathered in the Harrison Auditorium yesterday afternoon. Mailer compared himself to a "restaurateur who'll give you a testing menu," before he started reading passages from various works. In the third session in a series of lectures, Mailer read selections from Tough Guys Don't Dance and Harlot's Ghost along with a poem entitled "Togetherness." But the high point of the program was the portion read from Oswald's Tale, his newest book, due to arrive in bookstores in April. The audience heard actual KGB transcripts of their surveillance of Lee Harvey Oswald and excerpts from Mailer's interview with the KGB agent assigned to Oswald's case. "What I got was a sense of [Oswald] as a man," said Mailer, describing his research experience in the former Soviet Union. When asked if he had developed any conclusions as to whether Oswald had acted alone in the assassination of John Kennedy, Mailer responded that it was after he returned from Minsk to the United States that he developed a "tentative" conclusion. "He was perfectly capable of committing the crime alone," Mailer said. "But whether he did or not is another question." Mailer closed the reading with a passage from Ancient Evenings describing the Egyptian embalming process from the point of view of the dead body. His description included a graphic section on the extraction of the brains from the skull. Members of the audience were allowed to ask general questions of Mailer following the reading. In response to a question on the his decision to become a writer, Mailer said he was lucky that he had the support of his parents. "I had great luck," he said. "I won a story contest when I was 18 so as a result my parents accepted my decision." Answering a question about writing style, Mailer said he lets the material dictate what approach he should use. "I find I can't write anything until I find the style for the piece," he said. The program closed with a formal autograph session during which Mailer not only signed books, but also discussed boxing techniques. College junior Matt Robinson presented the former boxer with a left boxing glove to be autographed. "I figured it'd be an appropriate keepsake of the event," Robinson said. And College junior Christy Mach left the program with a newly autographed copy of Mailer's Armies of the Night in hand. "I feel lucky," said Mach. "It's not everyday that you meet someone who's a legend in his own time."

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