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September 2, 2009
Good News: Norman Mailer is Still Dead
Until he is forgotten, Mailer should be remembered not only in a fool’s cap and bells but also in a scoundrel’s midnight black. For in an age crawling with intellectual folly, he was one of the reigning dunces, even his best works were shot through with adolescent fatuities, while the worst of his words and deeds were stupid and vicious without bottom. One is torn between wishing that his memory would disappear immediately and wanting his remains to hang at the crossroads as a lasting reminder to others. -- The Naked Novelist and the Dead ReputationFor my own take on Mailer when he lived, see The Naked and the Senile Dementia
Posted by Vanderleun at September 2, 2009 12:10 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
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Here's what else we should remember "Drunkin' Norman" for: inexpliccably stabbing his wife and then getting away with it, and getting a celebrated convict-writer-murderer sprung from jail so he could murder again.
For some decades now we have celebrated the grotesque to the point that we often elevated such monstrosities to positions of importance. Ted Kennedy, Michael Jackson, Norman Mailer, and the list goes on (you could even toss the bloated, dissipated Elvis on the pile, since the King died on his porcelain throne). We have crackpots with murderous fantasies advising the President on health care and the sciences as I write, so the ghouls are rising again.
Posted by: Roderick Reilly at September 2, 2009 1:32 PM