Adele Morales
Encyclopedia
Adele Morales is an American painter and memoirist; she is best known as the second wife of American
author-playwright Norman Mailer
.
Morales was descended from a Spanish mother and Native Peruvian father; she grew up in Bensonhurst but moved to Manhattan
, where she studied painting with Hans Hofmann
and took up a Bohemian lifestyle, being involved for several years with Edwin Fancher (who together with Mailer and Dan Wolf founded The Village Voice
) and briefly with Jack Kerouac
. Mailer's biographer Mary Dearborn
says of those days:
; they were married in 1954 and lived in a "loft on Monroe Street in the shadows of the Manhattan Bridge," which became a "popular salon" for the New York intelligentsia. But after visiting Paris in the summer of 1956 Mailer and Morales decided to leave New York; Mailer wrote "the city was not alive for me. I was on edge. My wife was pregnant. It seemed abruptly too punishing to live at the pace we had been going for several years." In the fall of 1956 they moved to a rented "sprawling white saltbox farmhouse" in Bridgewater, Connecticut
, near a literary and artistic community that included Arthur Miller and William Styron in nearby Roxbury
.
In March 1957 Adele gave birth to a daughter Danielle, called Dandy. Although Adele was happy at first in the country, there was "a constant low-level hostility between Norman and Adele, which got worse when they drank." They moved back to New York in the fall of 1958, renting an apartment at 73 Perry St. in the Village; Adele bore another daughter, Elizabeth Anne, in 1959. In the summer of 1960, in Provincetown, Massachusetts
, Adele danced in a production called "The Pirates of Provincetown," and James Baldwin
praised her performance, "though she had no lines beyond one scream, which she delivered with gusto in high 'method' style"; later that summer she had to bail Norman out of jail after a drunken run-in with the police.
He was involuntarily committed to Bellevue Hospital for 17 days; his wife would not press charges, and he later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault, and was given a suspended sentence. In the short term, Morales made a physical recovery, and the two divorced in 1962.
, which recounted the violence and its aftermath. This incident has been a focal point for feminist critics of Mailer, who point to themes of sexual violence in his work.
She currently lives in a Manhattan rent controlled tenement
, in relative poverty. The former couple had two daughters: Danielle "Dandy" Mailer (born March 1957) is a painter and Elizabeth Anne "Betsy" Mailer (born 1959) is a writer.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author-playwright Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
.
Morales was descended from a Spanish mother and Native Peruvian father; she grew up in Bensonhurst but moved to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, where she studied painting with Hans Hofmann
Hans Hofmann
Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.-Biography:Hofmann was born in Weißenburg, Bavaria on March 21, 1880, the son of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann. When he was six he moved with his family to Munich...
and took up a Bohemian lifestyle, being involved for several years with Edwin Fancher (who together with Mailer and Dan Wolf founded The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
) and briefly with Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
. Mailer's biographer Mary Dearborn
Mary Dearborn
Mary Dearborn is an American biographer and author. Dearborn has published biographies of John Dewey, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, and Peggy Guggenheim....
says of those days:
Adele thrived in the city. She frequented the Village bars, especially those, like the San Remo and the Cedar Tavern, favored by artists and writers, and she dressed in fantastic, gypsylike outfits. By all accounts, she had extraordinary physical presence. With striking dark good looks and a beautiful body, she seemed to exude sexuality. (It was widely known that her lingerie was ordered from Frederick's of Hollywood.)
Life with Norman Mailer
In 1951 she moved in with Mailer in an apartment upstairs from Wolf's, on First Avenue near Second Street in Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
; they were married in 1954 and lived in a "loft on Monroe Street in the shadows of the Manhattan Bridge," which became a "popular salon" for the New York intelligentsia. But after visiting Paris in the summer of 1956 Mailer and Morales decided to leave New York; Mailer wrote "the city was not alive for me. I was on edge. My wife was pregnant. It seemed abruptly too punishing to live at the pace we had been going for several years." In the fall of 1956 they moved to a rented "sprawling white saltbox farmhouse" in Bridgewater, Connecticut
Bridgewater, Connecticut
Bridgewater is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,824 at the 2000 census. It is the only remaining dry town in Connecticut.-Geography:...
, near a literary and artistic community that included Arthur Miller and William Styron in nearby Roxbury
Roxbury, Connecticut
Roxbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,136 at the 2000 census.-History:Roxbury, whose Indian name was "Shepaug", a Mahican name signifiying "rocky water", was settled about the year 1713...
.
In March 1957 Adele gave birth to a daughter Danielle, called Dandy. Although Adele was happy at first in the country, there was "a constant low-level hostility between Norman and Adele, which got worse when they drank." They moved back to New York in the fall of 1958, renting an apartment at 73 Perry St. in the Village; Adele bore another daughter, Elizabeth Anne, in 1959. In the summer of 1960, in Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
, Adele danced in a production called "The Pirates of Provincetown," and James Baldwin
James Baldwin (writer)
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
praised her performance, "though she had no lines beyond one scream, which she delivered with gusto in high 'method' style"; later that summer she had to bail Norman out of jail after a drunken run-in with the police.
Stabbing
On Saturday, November 19, 1960, Mailer stabbed Adele with a penknife after a party, nearly killing her. He cut through her breast, only just missing her heart. Then he stabbed her in the back. As she lay there, haemorrhaging, one man reached down to help her. He snapped: "Get away from her. Let the bitch die."He was involuntarily committed to Bellevue Hospital for 17 days; his wife would not press charges, and he later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault, and was given a suspended sentence. In the short term, Morales made a physical recovery, and the two divorced in 1962.
Aftermath
In 1997 she published a memoir of their marriage to Mailer entitled The Last PartyThe Last Party
The Last Party is a 1997 book by Adele Morales, second wife of Norman Mailer, whom she married in 1954. It was published in the US by Barricade Books....
, which recounted the violence and its aftermath. This incident has been a focal point for feminist critics of Mailer, who point to themes of sexual violence in his work.
She currently lives in a Manhattan rent controlled tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
, in relative poverty. The former couple had two daughters: Danielle "Dandy" Mailer (born March 1957) is a painter and Elizabeth Anne "Betsy" Mailer (born 1959) is a writer.