Letters to the Editor
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mailer letter correction
I came back to this thread to correct a mistake in my last posting. When I quoted Auden's line (with a change), I had him writing "pardon" instead of "pardons." Bugs me to misquote a poet I really like. Would have to change the syntax of my sentence, but shouldn't have missed this.
Reading through other letters, I noticed the post from Nathforde. Two things: 1) It hardly seems accurate to characterize ALL the letters posted as attacking Mailer. It is true, I have reservations about his talent, and so am willing to suffer Nathforde's scorn, but many of these writers praise Mailer. 2) What is it exactly about dying that implies we should be less than honest regarding how we feel about the person who dies? Does the person suddenly become more virtuous, more talented? I would agree that it is chickenshit to pile on a person only after they die, when they cannot fight back. But I, and many others, have openly said what we thought while Mailer was alive. Why should we pretend now that we didn't think it? And incidentally, Nathforde, it is you who connects Mailer to Anna Nicole Smith. None of the rest of us suggested such a thing. In my opinion, of the two, Mailer was unquestionably the more gifted writer.