Saturday, November 10, 2007

Norman Mailer, R. I. P.

Probably everybody of my generation read The Naked and the Dead. I went on to read many more of Mailer's books, including some of the "lesser" ones. Great stuff, some of it.

Literary giant Norman Mailer dies at 84 - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe: "Norman Mailer, the self-proclaimed heavyweight champion of postwar American letters, whose six decades in the public eye helped make him one of America's most acclaimed, and controversial authors, died this morning of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He was 84.

Mr. Mailer was 25 when he published his first book, 'The Naked and the Dead' (1948). Based on his experiences as a combat infantryman in the Philippines, the novel was a great literary and commercial success.

Mr. Mailer went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes: for 'The Armies of the Night' (1968), a nonfiction account of a 1967 anti-war march on the Pentagon, and 'The Executioner's Song' (1979), which Mr. Mailer described as a 'real life novel,' about executed murderer Gary Gilmore."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd have to agree that Mailer's two best works were ARMIES OF THE NIGHT and THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG.
George Kelley

Cap'n Bob said...

Legend has it when he met Tallulah Bankhead she said, "You're that nice young man who can't spell fuck."

Or am I thinking of someone else?

Unknown said...

I think he used "fug" in The Naked and the Dead, unless I'm thinking of someone else. It's been a long time.

juandos said...

Poor Richard Adan couldn't be reached for comment upon the announcement of the death of Norman Mailer...

Hopefully there special corner in Hell for scum like Mailer...