Lipton’s: A Marijuana Journal, 1954–1955

Lipton’s: A Marijuana Journal is a previously unpublished journal by Norman Mailer, written between December 1954 and March 1955. The published volume presents Mailer’s daily reflections and working ideas from a formative period in his career, including lines of thought he later developed in his subsequent writing. 

The Arcade Publishing edition is edited by J. Michael Lennon, Gerald R. Lucas, and Susan Mailer. The text is a document of “private self-analysis and personal transformation” produced during a critical time in Mailer’s life, and is valuable for understanding the development of Mailer’s public persona, thematic preoccupations, and stylistic approach after the early 1950s. 

A notable archival feature of this edition is the inclusion of previously unpublished correspondence between Mailer and psychologist Robert Lindner (author of The Fifty-Minute Hour and Rebel Without a Cause), which the jacket describes as illuminating Mailer’s state of mind during composition and the nature of their relationship. 

As a co-editor, I participated in the preparation of the first published edition of this manuscript, working in collaboration with Mike Lennon and Susan Mailer. The editorial task centered on making a difficult archival document readable and usable without suppressing its complexity. The raw manuscript can be opaque and repetitious, but the published edition aims to make the text widely accessible while preserving Mailer’s voice.

Publication Details

• Arcade Publishing (an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing), New York.
• ISBN-13: 978-1-956763-87-4.
• Purchase on Amazon.