1968 Writers and Editors War Tax Protest

[MalignD at aol.com]

<< I'd run from Mailer. >>

Then you're an idiot. I can't let this pass.  Mailer's wonderful.    

I understand that hiding from the world and saying little about anything is 
the model of greatness on this list.  But I think Pynchon, given his stature, 
is embarrassingly timid.  

Mailer's novels suck, admittedly.  But he's got a wonderful, supple mind, and 
he's been willing to make it all public -- buffonery, bad judgement (Jack 
Abbott), running for mayor of New York, Town Bloody Hall -- along with the 
occasional good, even great book -- Of a Fire on the Moon, The Executioner's Song, 
Armies of the Night.  He's a huge contributor to the cultural life of New York 
in the last fifty years and, I think, of the world.  His obit in the Times 
will be 10,000 words and earned.