In a back-handed compliment (front-handed insult?), Gore Vidal once wrote that Norman Mailer’s “faults, though many, add to rather than subtract from the sum of his natural achievements.” His diametrical opposite was Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (a.k.a. Marg of Arg), whose faults ultimately got the better of her. He was a New Journalism writer based in New York. She was an old-school socialite based in London. Seemingly, they had nothing in common, but there was a link between them. What was it?
- They had once been romantically involved.
- They were both sworn enemies of Gore Vidal.
- They were related by marriage.
- Like Norman Mailer, the Duchess, too, had won a Pulitzer Prize.
 Norman Mailer; Photograph by Carl Van Vechten |  "Forget Not, Her Autobiography" by Margaret, Duchess of Argyll |
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll was briefly Norman Mailer’s stepmother-in-law. In 1962, Mailer married Lady Jeanne Campbell, the daughter of Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, whose estranged wife was Margaret. By the end of 1963 (one year later) both marriages had ended in divorce.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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