This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Sunday, November 11, 2007 12:00 AM

Norman Mailer 1923 - 2007

Remembrances of Norman Mailer by Marlon Brando, Liz Smith, Irving Howe, Diana Trilling, Edward Abbey, Germaine Greer and other notables.

Read other letters about this article

  • Sunday, November 11, 2007 07:45 AM

    Norman Mailer was fun--

    and wrote some of the most relevant, important, and fascinating non-fiction about politics during the 1960s--early, mid-, and late, and on into the 1970s.

    Was he an "ass," and the like, as some insist? Only to the humorless who failed to see his enormous humor (and insecurity) and tendency to spoof and play with the overly serious.

    He'll be missed as a pot-stirrer of the most fascinating kind; and as a political commentator with original insights to offer.

    As for the religio/cottage industry notion that JFK was killed by a conspiracy: where, after all these years, is the "evidence" for that which can withstand analysis for intellectual honesty and logic?

Most Active Letters Threads

707

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
688

Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation

The "new" approach to Afghanistan touted by White House officials seems quite old
440

The face of rotted Washington

Evan Bayh demands more debt-financed war - fought by others - while boasting that he's a stern "deficit hawk."
326

Yes, it's Obama's war now

An uninspiring speech sells a dubious policy, but progressives who feel betrayed have only themselves to blame
209

Bigotry wins in Switzerland

By voting to ban the construction of minarets, Switzerland apes the most extreme intolerance in the Muslim world

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon