Taschen has paired Mailer's original text (his 1973 biography Marilyn) with Bert Stern's extraordinary photographs - widely considered the most intimate ever taken of Monroe - to create a fitting tribute to the woman who, at the time of her death in 1962, was the world's most famous, a symbol of glamour and eroticism for an entire generation. But though she was feted and adored by her public, her private life was that of a little girl lost, desperate to find love and security. Mailer's Marilyn is beautiful, tragic, and complex. As Mailer reflects upon her life - from her bleak childhood through to the mysterious circumstances of her death - she emerges as a symbol of the bizarre decade during which she reigned as Hollywood's greatest female star.
This book, conceived by Lawrence Schiller, Mailer's collaborator on five works, combines the author's masterful text with Stern's penetrating images of the 36-year-old Marilyn. Photographed for Vogue magazine over three days at the Bel-Air Hotel, Marilyn had never allowed such unfettered access, nor had she looked so breathtakingly beautiful. Six weeks later, mysteriously, she was dead. In this bold synthesis of literary classic and legendary portrait sitting, Mailer and Stern lift the veils of confusion surrounding Monroe - the woman, the star, the sex symbol - and offer profound insight into an iconic figure whose true personality remains an enigma even today.
"A book of gargantuan propensities... incalculable in impact... brilliant passages... compulsively readable." Time Magazine, New York
"Marilyn season comes round again, at least once a year we're reminded why the ultimate blond bombshell remains one of the few true movie stars, perhaps legend is more appropriate. We never tire of these Miss Monroe coffee table books and while we'll reserve judgement on 'My week with Marilyn' until we see it, this collectors volume book, Norman Mailer, Bert Stern: Marilyn Monroe, looks to be a surefire hit." Selectism. com
Marilyn Monroe by Norman Mailer/Bert Stern at Coggles. com
Hardcover, clamshell box - 36 x 44cms 278 pages
ISBN: 978-3-8365-1185-8