Norman Mailer’s Short Fiction

A chronological bibliography of Norman Mailer’s short fiction. Composition dates are shown in brackets; Unpublished stories will have just one date, and some of these compositions dates are speculative. Links are for Works and Days entries; additional information may be found on my Wikipedia bibliography.

Published Stories

• Mailer, Norman (April 1941) [1940]. "The Greatest Thing in the World". The Harvard Advocate. pp. 3–6, 24–28.
• — (May 1942) [1941]. "Right Shoe on Left Foot". The Harvard Advocate. Vol. CXXVIII no. 5. pp. 12–18, 30–32.
• — (June 1942) [1941]. "Maybe Next Year". The Harvard Advocate. Vol. CXXVIII no. 6. pp. 25–27.
• — (April 1944) [October 1942]. "A Calculus at Heaven". In Seaver, Edwin. Cross-Section: A Collection of New American Writing. New York: L. B. Fischer. pp. 317–353.
• — (1952) [1951]. "The Paper House". New World Writing: Second Mentor Collection. New American Library.
• — (December 1952) [1951]. "The Dead Gook". In Aldridge, John W.; Bourjaily, Vance. Discovery, No. 1. New York: Pocket Books. pp. 56–76.
• — (April 1953) [1951]. "The Language of Men". Esquire. pp. 61, 115–17.
• — (April–May 1953) [1951]. "Pierrot". World Review. London: New Series 50. pp. 44–50.
• — (Summer 1953) [1951]. "The Notebook". Cornhill Magazine. No. 996. pp. 481–84.
• — (May 1956) [1952]. "The Man Who Studied Yoga". New Short Novels 2. New York: Ballantine. pp. 1–29.
• — (Fall 1958) [1958]. "Advertisements for Myself on the Way Out". Partisan Review. 25: 519–540.
• — (1959) [1958]. "The Time of Her Time". Advertisements for Myself. New York: Putnum. pp. 478–503.
• — (1959) [1939]. "It". Advertisements for Myself. New York: Putnum. p. 391.
• — (1959) [1950]. "Great in the Hay". Advertisements for Myself. New York: Putnum. pp. 392–393.
• — (September–October 1962) [December 1960]. "Truth and Being; Nothing and Time: A Broken Fragment from a Long Novel". Evergreen Review. No. 26. pp. 68–74.CS1 maint: Date format (link)
• — (December 1963) [1962]. "The Last Night". Esquire. pp. 180–181, 200–206.
• — (April–May 1964) [December 1960]. "The Killer". Evergreen Review. 32: 26–27, 86.
• — (1965). "Ministers of Taste: A Story". Partisan Review. 32: 26–27, 86.
• — (1967). "The Shortest Novel of Them All". The Short Fiction of Norman Mailer. New York: Dell. p. 212.
• — (2012) [ca. 1951]. "The Blood of the Blunt". The Mailer Review. 6 (1): 11–27.
• — (2013) [ca. 1951]. "Love-Buds". The Mailer Review. 7 (1): 11–27. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
• — (2014) [ca. 1951]. "La Petite Bourgeoise". The Mailer Review. 8 (1): 10–16. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
• — (2015) [ca. 1951]. "The Thalian Adventure". The Mailer Review. 9 (1): 9–26. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
• — (2016) [January 1933]. "The Collision". The Mailer Review. 10 (1): 9–26. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
• — (2017) [ca. 1951]. "Dr. Bulganoff and the Solitary Teste". The Mailer Review. 11 (1): 8–22. Retrieved 2019-08-04.

Unpublished Stories

• Mailer, Norman (Fall 1941), "A Clean Well-Ordered Life", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–5.
• — (Fall 1941), "The Worms that Tear at Me", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–4.
• — (5 December 1941), "The Schedule Breaker", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–4.
• — (8 February 1942), "Three Fingers of Friendship", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–5.
• — (18 February 1942), "Retreat", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–13.
• — (5 March 1942), "Charde and Dana", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–17.
• — (1 April 1942), "Land Lashed", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–10.
• — (3 April 1942), "Small Fry", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–3.
• — (May 1942), "Music Teachers I Have Known and Loved", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–3.
• — (17 July 1942), "The Lock", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–2. Experimental fragment.
• — (26 February 1943), "[Yiddish on the Train]", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–5.
• — (1943), "Tough Test", Unpublished, Harvard, pp. 1–4. Handwritten fragment.
• — (January–February 1945), "Nostalgia", Unpublished, Luzon, pp. 1–11.

Collections

• Mailer, Norman (1959). Advertisements for Myself. New York: Putnum.
• — (1966). Cannibals and Christians. New York: Dell.
• — (1967). The Short Fiction of Norman Mailer. New York: Dell.
• — (1982). The Essential Mailer. Sevenoaks, Kent: New English Library.