Norman Mailer: Death and Remembrance

Norman Mailer, the Pulitzer-winning novelist and towering figure of American letters, died today in Manhattan, at the age of 84. Over the course of a career that spanned six decades, Norman Mailer became one of the great American writers of our time, publishing over 30 books on subjects ranging from his experiences during World War II to the 1967 antiwar march on the Pentagon. Always curious about new ways to communicate, Norman Mailer was an occasional blogger for this site. We send our warmest wishes to his family and friends.

As NYUs Jay Rosen wrote shortly before the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Mailer always said he hated journalism. His coverage of the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles broke the mold of the traditional political reporter. Rosen wrote that Mailer's story for Esquire Magazine, titled "Superman Comes To The Supermarket," demonstrated that John F. Kennedy

was about to send a powerful (and erotic) jolt into mainstream America-- if he won the election. For this was the idea Mailer developed as he tried to make sense of what he saw, heard, and felt in Los Angeles.

"Superman..." appeared in Esquire Magazine well after the event was over. To read it today...is to realize that things don't have to be the way [a traditional reporter] says they are. There are other ways into the intricacies of politics. And if they are not practical for the reporter from Mudville who got the assignment to cover the convention, they can at least be inspirational. If not that, educational.

You can read "Superman Comes To The Supermarket," from the November 1960 issue of Esquire here.

In 1969 Mailer ran for Mayor of New York City alongside columnist Jimmy Breslin, who was running for President of the City Council. Time Magazine reported in 1969 that Mailer was pitching himself as a "left conservative," who explained that he was in the race because "I am paying my debt to society."

You can read a June 13, 1969 Time Magazine article on Mailer's run for office here.

To listen to Breslin's recollections of their candidacy, click here.

Story continues below

Read Paul Krassner's "Remembering Norman Mailer"

Read RJ Eskow's "Norman Mailer's City"

Read Norman Mailer's HuffPost blog "God's Chosen Envoy for America"

Read Norman Mailer's HuffPost blog "Intelligence 101A"

Read Norman Mailer's obit from the AP

Read Norman Mailer's obit in the New York Times

Read Michiko Kakutani's appraisal of Norman Mailer's career

Read Norman Mailer's obit in the Washington Post

Norman Mailer's Bibliography

Comments

[Ramirez]

Here's a bit of a dissenting view on the acclaimed brilliance of Mailer's writing.

From Roger Kimball's blog:
http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/rogerkimball/2007/11/10/norman_mailer_a_dissenting_vie.php

[strifeknot]

I don't think he was a very good writer at all. His contemporary, Gore Vidal, is so much better.

Nevertheless, he was an interesting, passionate man, and I'm grateful he was here.

[Kundera]

Maybe now the family of Jack Henry Abbott's victim will have some peace.

[drkazmd65]

Damn,... another great American Writer whose work I will have to read first after that writer's death.

Finally got around to reading my first Vonnegut book this last summer. 'God Bless you Mr. Rosewater' was a very good read,...

Just might have to go and find me a relatively obscure, but critically acclaimed Mailer book now,...

Anybody got a good reccomendation for which one to read first?

Day late,... but hopefully not a dollar short again on my part.

RIP Mr. Mailer,...

[MagisterLudi]

The sickness of our times for me has been just
this damn thing that everything has been getting smaller and smaller and less and less important, that the romantic spirit has dried up, that there is no shame today. We're all getting so mean and small and petty and ridiculous....

"Some guy hit my fender, and I told him, 'Be fruitful and multiply,' but not in those words."

One quote from NM, one for Woody.

hmmm, I wonder which is which...

[WilliamLloyd]

Yes, it's Saturday and the prime shift at HuffPost undoubtedly has the weekend off, but really: "warm wishes" to Norman Mailer's family? What ever happened to "condolences" and other words of comfort?

[tkondaks]

Reunited with Jack Abbott at last...

[rollingdivision]

Rest in peace Mr. Mailer and thanks for all the stories.

[workingboy]

my favorite Norman story: at a party, he got into a fight with the actor Rip Torn and bit Rip's ear. at a later event, Geraldine Page, Rip's wife, spotted Norman. she smiled, waved, and yelled across the room: "Norman, how's your appetite?"

[Hattie]

What is it I am supposed to think is so great about Mailer's work?
Why should I care about a man and his penis, which is what so much men's literature is about?

[barrycourage]

As of this writing, the second page of this thread has gone AWOL (the first comments made).

So some things written here don't make sense as of now.

In a previous comment, I told of an experience in which I saw mailer having a drink in a gay bar in Provincetown one night in the dead of Winter.

Another commenter, who was critical of Mailer's reported sexism, made a remark to the effect that Mailer was a woman-hating closet case.

If I did not make it clear, that bar was one of the only two bars open in P-town that time of year. The other bar was a "leather bar" that showed pornographic videos and was decorated with various sex toys and paraphenalia.

I think Mailer had made friends with other town folk. P-town is quite isolated that time of year. If you want company and a nite cap, the bar at the Atlantic House--which I believe has historic landmark status--is the only game in town.

To that commenter, you read what you wanted to read.

[francoise]

He was an iconoclast and could speak/write about any topic without being bothered with remaining politically correct.

This kind of intellectual honesty is so scarce nowadays that one has to respect the man for daring to try and wake us up.

I'm sorry he's dead. Whether or not one agrees with him, he was making us think. And he was making us think along new paths, always avoiding the usual highways.

[SouthpawSass]

Well, I could say something about his death and the writer's strike, but I'm not feeling well. I'm sure someone else can do it...

Oh, I don't want to hear it. Even he would chuckle.

[doglove]

In an interview in September 2006, Mr. Mailer said his favorite novel, if not his best, was “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” a mystery thriller he wrote, under extreme financial pressure, in just two months in 1984. He was in tax trouble, he explained, and needed to crank something out quickly. “I was prepared to write a bad book if necessary,” he said, “but instead the style came out, and that saved it for me.”

from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/books/11mailer.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&hp

I always loved "Tough Guys Don't Dance", my favorite novel and it sold nil. I am tickled to find that Norman loved it also. Read by virtually everyone in P-town, but ignored by the rest of the dull, colorless, drab book club ers', it married his genius with an element of imagery that never failed to stimulate and provoke. It is simply, outstanding.

[CountryOver]

"Executioner's Song" is one of the best books ever.

Something the press won't report: unlike many writers, he signed things that his fans mailed to him.

I've read one of his biographies. He had an I.Q. of 142, nerves of steel and a proficiency for dealing with "common people."

A loss for the world