News Release — June 15, 2006

Registration opens for 2006 Flair Symposium, "The Sense of Our Time: Norman Mailer and America in Conflict"

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin opens registration for the sixth Fleur Cowles Flair Symposium, "The Sense of Our Time: Norman Mailer and America in Conflict," scheduled for Nov. 9-11.

Mailer's works and ideas will be the starting points for speakers at the symposium to explore the cultural conflicts that confronted post-World War II America, from civil rights to war, from sexual politics to the rise of "new Journalism." The symposium will feature plenary sessions and panels of scholars, professional writers and critics.

Speakers include Norman Mailer, Sam Tanenhaus of the New York Times, Morris Dickstein of the CUNY Center for the Humanities and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Oshinsky of The University of Texas at Austin.

The symposium will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, "Norman Mailer Takes On America," which highlights the Ransom Center's recent acquisition of the Mailer archive. While the archive is not yet available for research, the symposium and exhibition will initiate dialogs that will drive future research on the collection.

The Flair Symposium, held biennially at the Ransom Center, honors the ideals set forth by Fleur Cowles and her landmark Flair magazine.