RIP, Norman Mailer

Mailer, one of the great dickheads of literature and author of The Executioners Song, Armies of the Night and The Naked and the Dead died today. He was 84.

As famous for his personal life (he once stabbed his wife in the chest, nearly killing her), his self-promotion (once running for Mayor of New York) and his personal feuds (most famously with women's rights activists and Gore Vidal) as he was for his often brilliant writing (The three books listed above are classics of the post-war era), Mailer was never one to shrink from a fight or hide from publicity. His statements and actions were often embarrassing or downright offensive to even the biggest fans of his writing, but in the long run, it's the books that will last.

shit.

Thompson...Vonnegut...and now Mailer


there's a great interview w/him on his personal religious views in the December Playboy (Kim Kardashian cover)

Wasn't that dude on Gilmore Girls once?

you Philistines...

I heard on the radio that his first book was rated one of the 100 best novels published in English of all time. I forget who made the list though. Anyway RIP.

Frankly, he, Gore Vidal, and Noam Chomsky kind of just blend together for me.

Note to self: not a lot of readers on SG.

It's only a hobby for me.

Even before I clicked, I knew you wrote that.

Predictability is also a something that I tinker around with in my spare time.

I was too busy "mourning."

Rest In Peace, old man.

"The Naked And The Dead" had an incredible impact on me. Read it when i was very young. Found it in my parent's book collection and the reason I picked it up was that it was published by Playboy. It wasn't what I expected. It was the first time I read a book about war and it grabbed me. The way it affected me had probably a lot to do with me turning out to be a vehement pazifist.

R.I.P.