Existential Errands

Boston: Little Brown, 1972. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine Condition/Very Good. Surface marks to jacket and a slight paper adhesion on the rear panel, short tears to jacket at spine ends, still attractive and very good. Faint wear and discoloration to book edges.

Inscribed by Mailer "To Buzz and Carol These were the years, hey gang? Love Norman May '72". Buzz and Carol Farbar were longtime friends of Mailer's from the publishing business - Buzz was involved in Mailer's three movies (Maidstone, Wild 90 and Beyond the Law), playing Buzz Cameo in the improvised gangster film "Wild 90" which is the subject of the essay "Some Dirt in the Talk" in this collection. Years later Buzz was arrested in a sting operation trying to buy a kilo of cocaine (actually a harmless white powder being shopped by an undercover agent). In return for a promise of a radically reduced sentence, Buzz was convinced to wear a wire to a lunch at Armando's in Brooklyn with Mailer where he would get Norman to admit that he was the money guy in an international hashish ring run by Mailer's onetime associate Richard Stratton. It didn't work out and Buzz was given a harsh 6 year sentence. His wife Carol divorced him in 1985 and he ended up tragically committing suicide after being released from prison. Needless to say, rumors about Mailer's involvement in the drug smuggling and in Buzz's silence on the matter have made the rounds over the years. A terrific association with a close associate and one of the more puzzling episodes in one of the great literary lives of the 20th century. Size: Octavo (8vo). Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Essays & Literary Criticism; Signed by Author. Inventory No: 043587.