Saturday, November 10, 2007
Breaking News: Acclaimed American Novelist Norman Mailer Dies
The highly-respected literary figure and journalist died of renal failure at the age of 84, his biographer J. Michael Lennon said.
Mailer won the coveted Pulitzer Prize twice, for The Armies of the Night in 1968 and The Executioner's Song in 1979.
He was known for biting prose and as an antagonist of the feminist movement. His latest work, The Castle in the Forest, was published this year.
Born in 1923 in New Jersey, Mailer wrote dozens of books as well as plays, poems, screenplays and essays.
Mailer's first major success, the 1948 novel The Naked and the Dead, was based on his experiences in the Army in World War II.
His writing was characterised by violence, sexual obsession and views that angered feminists.
Biographer Peter Manso told Sky: "His journalism of the 60s and 70s were incandescent.
"It was mesmerising stuff."
Mailer was co-founder of The Village Voice alternative newspaper in New York.
Married six times and the father of nine children, Mailer once said in an NBC television interview that he was worried "women are going to take over the world".
Detractors considered him an intellectual bully and he feuded with fellow authors including Truman Capote, William Styron, Tom Wolfe and Norman Podhoretz.
Mr Manso told Sky Mailer "was not an easy person to be around".
Describing him more narcissistic in his later years, Mr Manso said Mailor pandered to the media and became obsessed with winning a Nobel prize.
"I think the past 15 to 20 years were a disappointment," he said.
Mailer won the coveted Pulitzer Prize twice, for The Armies of the Night in 1968 and The Executioner's Song in 1979.
He was known for biting prose and as an antagonist of the feminist movement. His latest work, The Castle in the Forest, was published this year.
Born in 1923 in New Jersey, Mailer wrote dozens of books as well as plays, poems, screenplays and essays.
Mailer's first major success, the 1948 novel The Naked and the Dead, was based on his experiences in the Army in World War II.
His writing was characterised by violence, sexual obsession and views that angered feminists.
Biographer Peter Manso told Sky: "His journalism of the 60s and 70s were incandescent.
"It was mesmerising stuff."
Mailer was co-founder of The Village Voice alternative newspaper in New York.
Married six times and the father of nine children, Mailer once said in an NBC television interview that he was worried "women are going to take over the world".
Detractors considered him an intellectual bully and he feuded with fellow authors including Truman Capote, William Styron, Tom Wolfe and Norman Podhoretz.
Mr Manso told Sky Mailer "was not an easy person to be around".
Describing him more narcissistic in his later years, Mr Manso said Mailor pandered to the media and became obsessed with winning a Nobel prize.
"I think the past 15 to 20 years were a disappointment," he said.
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